Crowding on Mooreville’s subway frequently leads to delays, because it

Question

Crowding on Mooreville’s subway frequently leads to delays, because it is difficult for passengers to exit from the trains. Subway ridership is projected to increase by 20 percent over the next 10 years. The Metroville Transit Authority plans to increase the number of daily train trips by only 5 percent over the same period. Officials predict that this increase is sufficient to ensure that the incidence of delays due to crowding does not increase.

Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest grounds for the officials’ prediction?

(A) By changing maintenance schedules, the Transit Authority can achieve the 5 percent increase in train trips without purchasing any new subway cars.

(B) The Transit Authority also plans a 5 percent increase in the number of bus trips on routes that connect to subways.

(C) For most commuters who use the subway system, there is no practical alternative public transportation available.

(D) Most of the projected increase in ridership is expected to occur in off-peak hours when trains are now sparsely used.

(E) The 5 percent increase in the number of train trips can be achieved without an equal increase in Transit Authority operational costs.

gowrinkishore · Accepted Answer

I see that most have arrived at D through the process of elimination. Let me try to explain why D is the right answer:

The issue here is crowding - the greater the number of passengers, the tougher it is for them to get off the train. Thus, delays are caused.

Prediction: there will be a 20% increase in ridership over the next 10 years.
Authorities have, however, planned to increase the number of daily trips only by 5%. But they believe that this would be sufficient to ensure that the delay does not increase. Our objective is to select the option that helps explain why the officials think this.

Option D says that most of the expected increase in ridership will happen in off-peak hours - i.e. during the time of the day when the subway is NOT already crowded to begin with. Therefore, even if the ridership during these hours increases, it is likely that the crowding (and therefore the delays) will still be manageable.

Hope that makes sense.

hanumayamma · Answer

Conclusion: Officials predict that this increase is sufficient to ensure that the incidence of delays due to crowding does not increase.

A. By changing maintenance schedules, the Transit Authority can achieve the 5 percent increase in train trips without purchasing any new subway cars. Purchasing is not mentioned as part of the argument – eliminate it ]

B. The Transit Authority also plans a 5 percent increase in the number of bus trips on routes that connect to subways.  Bus trips is not mentioned as part of the argument – eliminate it ]

C. For most commuters who use the subway system, there is no practical alternative public transportation available.  Alternative transportation system is out of scope of the sargument – eliminate it ]

D. Most of the projected increase in ridership is expected to occur in off-peak hours when trains are now sparsely used.  Hold it ]

E. The 5 percent increase in the number of train trips can be achieved without an equal increase in Transit Authority operational costs.  Why to discuss about operational cost – eliminate it ]

Answer: D

ttram · Answer

Exactly. OA is D. But can you plz explain clearly for me why D? I also eliminate A, B, C and E. At last, I chose D, but I really do not understand why. Thanks a lot.

srp · Answer

Crowding results from people waiting for their trains during peak hours (not enough trains!). The proposed plan will increase the number of train trips during peak hours to reduce the number of people waiting and hence crowd. Note that the 5% increase in train trips doesn't have to take into account 20% increase in  off-peak  ridership.

jalmohd · Answer

its D...
 
can explanations like hanumayamma's wait at least a day after the question was posed.. please..

thanks a lot...

maverick101 · Answer

I think its D.

I think explanations are expected. You can avoid to read the explanations and the answers.

I haven't read the answers people have replied with, otherwise it would impart on my decision making.

vscid · Answer

if you have a choice of not to read the explanations, how does it affect you?

gixxer1000 · Answer

I agree. When you opent the thread and read the question you cannot read other peoples answers until you scroll down. Why would you scroll down and read the answers until you have your own answer. If you were studying out the OG you wouldnt flip to answers before you answered the question first would you. :?:

TiffanyLeung · Answer

i think this is a very smart method of solving the argument....to eliminate the irrelevant ones and keep the potential ones...you could soon find the right answer most of the time

pavan2185 · Answer

I chose D.But this is by POE A. Purchase or not is out of context. We are thinking of the effects of increse in trips. B. Why are we talking about Bus trips to subways

C. Lacking an alternative does not answer the no change in crowding. D. Seems somewhat supporting official's prediction. E. We are not talking of costs. Right? So D. But I would wonder if they did it practically since it does not make sense to increase trips when the load is not peak and when many use them sparsely

lare · Answer

D. Most of the projected increase in ridership is expected to occur in off-peak hours when trains are now sparsely used.  Hold it ]

Good Morning, 
I really don't understand how can this be the cause. I mean, neither the other options could be the cause, but how can increasing ridership in off-peak be sufficient to ensure that the incidence of delays due to crowding does not increase? If already there no are no delayduring off-peak time?

Thanks

parth2424 · Answer

Crowding on Mooreville???s subway frequently leads to delays, because it is difficult for passengers to exit from the trains. Over the next ten years, the Mooreville Transit Authority projects that subway ridership will increase by 20 percent. The authority plans to increase the number of daily train trips by only 5 percent over the same period. Officials predict that this increase is sufficient to ensure that the incidence of delays due to crowding does not increase.

Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest grounds for the officials??? prediction?

A) The population of Mooreville is not expected to increase significantly in the next ten years.

D) Most of the projected increase in ridership is expected to occur in off-peak hours when trains now are sparsely used.

Greetings Verbal Experts,
When I recently solved a Mock - My option A was different and I am not getting any explanation why Option A would be wrong in this case.

option D might be the better choice here but please can someone checkout my reasoning for option A it is as follows:

We have to support the prediction that the increase in the no. of trains/day will be sufficient to tackle the issue caused by the delays, which were caused by crowding (because of difficulty to exit)

If the riders are increasing + trains are also increasing + the population will not increase doesn't that imply that the increase in trains will solve the issue of crowding as:
as we know that the author of this argument assumes that the prediction will be sufficient to tackle the crowding

no population increase means that only the 20% increase will be there which the author already thinks is ok according to the 5% increase in daily trains.

svasan05 · Answer

Hi Parth

I can spot a couple of problems in your line of reasoning. Firstly, nowhere does it state that the number of trains is increasing - the passage only states that "daily train  trips " are planned to be increased by 5%.

Secondly, the population increase or decrease does not matter here as we are only dealing with the population  travelling on trains . Also, I am not clear how you have assumed "no population increase" here - the passage is completely silent on this aspect. The population may or may not increase over the next 10 years. Finally, the author's views on this 5% increase in trips being sufficient to accommodate the 20% increase in ridership are not known - we only know that the  officials  feel this will be enough.

Due to the above discrepancies, your line of reasoning is not very clear.

pratiksha1998 · Answer

Option D states that the 20 % increase would be in ridership(number of people riding) which means the load will increase in off-peak hours. So hence option D supports the argument.

Arthurito · Answer

It's D, since most of the increase in subways rides will occurs in off-peaks hours, then the prediction of a 5% increase in daily trains might be enough to contain the future increase.

KarishmaB · Answer

Situation: Crowding on Mooreville’s subway frequently leads to delays Subway ridership is projected to increase by 20 percent over the next 10 years. The Metroville Transit Authority plans to increase the number of daily train trips by only 5 percent over the same period. Prediction: Officials predict that this increase is sufficient to ensure that the incidence of delays due to crowding does not increase. This is a paradox, an unexpected situation. The ridership is projected to increase by 20% but the train trips will increase by 5% only. Even currently the subway is overcrowded. How will 5% increase be enough? (A) By changing maintenance schedules, the Transit Authority can achieve the 5 percent increase in train trips without purchasing any new subway cars. How they will achieve the 5% is irrelevant. We have to explain why 5% is enough to manage the additional 20% coming in. (B) The Transit Authority also plans a 5 percent increase in the number of bus trips on routes that connect to subways. Read it carefully - it talks about increasing bus trips on routes that connect to subways. So we are not talking about routes that the subway connects. We are talking about the bus trips to reach the subway station from the bus stop close to home or from subway station to the bus stop close to home. If train trips increase by 5%, bus routes will also need to be increased by 5% if they are currently overcrowded too. In any case, our point is why only 5% will be sufficient. (C) For most commuters who use the subway system, there is no practical alternative public transportation available. This doesn't explain the prediction - it is a cause for worry. If only 5% increase will take place, how will 20% extra people take the subway in 10 years if there is no practical alternative public transportation available. (D) Most of the projected increase in ridership is expected to occur in off-peak hours when trains are now sparsely used. Correct. If most of the increase takes place in off peak hours (say between 11 to 4), then 5% increase in train trips may be enough. Crowding occurs at peak hours and off peak hours are sparsely used. (E) The 5 percent increase in the number of train trips can be achieved without an equal increase in Transit Authority operational costs. How costs will change or not change once 5% increase is achieved is irrelevant. Answer (D) Discussion on Resolve the paradox questions: https://youtu.be/7mckzPg-xjo

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Crowding on Mooreville’s subway frequently leads to delays, because it

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