According to the Tristate Transportation Authority, making certain improvements to the main commuter rail line would increase ridership dramatically. The authority plans to finance these improvements over the course of five years by raising automobile tolls on the two high-way bridges along the route the rail line serves. Although the proposed improvements are indeed needed, the authority’s plan for securing the necessary funds should be rejected because it would unfairly force drivers to absorb the entire cost of something from which they receive no benefit.
Which of the following, if true, would cast the most doubt on the effectiveness of the authority’s plan to finance the proposed improvements by increasing bridge tolls?
(A) Before the authority increases tolls on any of the area bridges, it is required by law to hold public hearings at which objections to the proposed increase can be raised. X
This is purely explanatory…it goes about giving us details about the circumstances surrounding the toll increase. Irrelevant.
(B) Whenever bridge tolls are increased, the authority must pay a private contractor to adjust the automated toll-collecting machines. X
Again, like A, this choice gives us supplemental details that really aren’t impactful at all insofar as weakening the effectiveness of the proposed plan is concerned.
(C) Between the time a proposed toll increase is announced and the time the increase is actually put into effect, many commuters buy more tokens than usual to postpone the effects of the increase.
The main contender. This choice essentially says commuters will try to postpone the toll increase. However, postponement doesn’t necessarily mean the plan won’t work.
(D) When tolls were last increased on the two bridges in question, almost 20 percent of the regular commuter traffic switched to a slightly longer alternative route that has since been improved.
Correct. The key to this choice is “that has since been improved”. Typically, the past isn’t a particularly reliable indicator of what will happen in the future, but presumably the improvements in those longer routes means commuters have a plan B. If, in the past, people were OK enough to take those routes, then now that they are improved, it’s not hard to imagine resorting to those routes again.
(E) The chairman of the authority is a member of the Tristate Automobile Club that has registered strong opposition to the proposed toll increase. X
Who cares what his/her opinion is.
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