Since the mayors publicity campaign for Greenvilles bus service bega

Question

Since the mayor’s publicity campaign for Greenville’s bus service began six months ago, morning automobile traffic into the midtown area of the city has decreased seven percent. During the same period, there has been an equivalent rise in the number of persons riding buses into the midtown area. Obviously, the mayor’s publicity campaign has convinced many people to leave their cars at home and ride the bus to work..

Which of the following, if true, casts the most serious doubt on the conclusion drawn above?

(A) Fares for all bus routes in Greenville have risen an average of five percent during the past six months.

(B) The mayor of Greenville rides the bus to City Hall in the city’s midtown area.

(C) Road reconstruction has greatly reduced the number of lanes available to commuters in major streets leading to the midtown area during the past six months.

(D) The number of buses entering the midtown area of Greenville during the morning hours is exactly the same now as it was one year ago.

(E) Surveys show that longtime bus riders are no more satisfied with the Greenville bus service than they were before the mayor’s publicity campaign began

goodPaul · Accepted Answer

This is a weaken question. We need an answer that makes the given conclusion less likely to occur.
First of all the conclusion is "the mayor’s publicity campaign has convinced many people to leave their cars at home and ride the bus to work"

(A)  IRRELEVANT : Fares going up does not have a bearing on the conclusion on the effectiveness of Mayor's publicity campaign

(B)  IRRELEVANT : Nice to know that the Mayor is a driver, but irrelevant to the argument

(C)  CORRECT : if the number of lanes available to commuters to the midtown decreased in the same period in which the rise in the number of people riding bus, many commuters, that used to go to work by car have been forced to take the bus. This weaken the conclusion giving a new piece of evidence that can explain why the percentage of people taking bus has gone up and the number of cars has gone down

(D)  IRRELEVANT/STRENGTHENS : D gives evidence that the rise in people using bus is not the result of a rise in the number of buses available to Midtown Area. In some sense it knocks out of the way some doubts on the correctness of the given conclusion

(E)  IRRELEVANT : customer satisfaction is never mentioned in the argument

HKD1710 · Answer

I chose "C" which is the correct answer. following is the reasoning (not so critical

) - We need to weaken the conclusion i.e. to prove "the mayor’s publicity campaign has NOT convinced many people to leave their cars at home and ride the bus to work.." The correct answer choice would match the "to prove" above- (A) Fares for all bus routes in Greenville have risen an average of five percent during the past six months. Increasing fares do not speak anything similar to "to prove". (B) The mayor of Greenville rides the bus to City Hall in the city’s midtown area. so what if mayor rides bus to city hall. this also doesnt match the "to prove". (C) Road reconstruction has greatly reduced the number of lanes available to commuters in major streets leading to the midtown area during the past six months. if there are less lanes available to drive, people have to leave their cars at home and ride the bus. which means the mayor’s publicity campaign has NOT convinced them. this matches the "to prove". (D) The number of buses entering the midtown area of Greenville during the morning hours is exactly the same now as it was one year ago. Number of buses remained same doesn't talk about about number of commuters riding the buses has increased or decreased. (E) Surveys show that longtime bus riders are no more satisfied with the Greenville bus service than they were before the mayor’s publicity campaign began this statement does talk about campaign but doesnt considers those who have been riding the bus for long time not the people who have left the cars home and now ride the bus to work. Thanks, HKD1710 +1 KUDOS

sowragu · Answer

The Question stem says weaken the conclusion. Conclusion : Because of mayor's propaganda, in the last six months, bus riders has increased drastically. Possible weaken: 1. We can't say the effect happens before the cause here, since after his propaganda only the bus ridership has been increased. Hence the possible weaken here is we should present an alternate reason for the increase in the ridership. (A) Fares for all bus routes in Greenville have risen an average of five percent during the past six months. (B) The mayor of Greenville rides the bus to City Hall in the city’s midtown area. (C) Road reconstruction has greatly reduced the number of lanes available to commuters in major streets leading to the midtown area during the past six months. (D) The number of buses entering the midtown area of Greenville during the morning hours is exactly the same now as it was one year ago. (E) Surveys show that longtime bus riders are no more satisfied with the Greenville bus service than they were before the mayor’s publicity campaign began C is the only possible weaken that stands.

anairamitch1804 · Answer

Argument Evaluation

Situation Traffic into midtown has decreased by 7 percent, and bus ridership has increased by an equivalent amount. The mayor's publicity campaign is responsible for this change.

Reasoning What casts doubt on this conclusion? Another reasonable explanation of what caused the decrease in automobile traffic and the increase in bus ridership would make this
conclusion suspect. Road construction impeding access to midtown over the same period of time is a reasonable alternative explanation. The road construction projects would likely have discouraged people from driving to midtown; many of these people have probably taken the bus.

A An increase in fares might be a reasonable explanation for a decrease in ridership, but not for an increase.

B The mayor's decision to ride the bus sets a good example for citizens, so this would tend to strengthen rather than weaken support for the conclusion.

C Correct. This statement properly identifies an explanation that weakens support for the conclusion.

D If more buses were running, then more seats would be available for people traveling into midtown. Ruling out this scenario helps strengthen, not weaken, support for the conclusion.

E Passengers perceive bus service to be the same, so better service can be eliminated as a possible cause of the increased ridership.

The correct answer is C.

ydmuley · Answer

Let's first read the question stem - Question is asking us about - most serious doubt on the conclusion - Which means this is a WEAKEN THE ARGUMENT question.

Premise :
 1. Mayor's publicity campaign for Greenville's bus service - Lead to decreased automobile traffic into the midtown area by 7%
 2. At the same time there has been an equivalent increase in the number of persons riding buses into the middle town

Conclusion :
 Mayor's publicity campaign has convinced many people to leave their automobiles at home and ride bus to work.
 
 Assumptions :
 There is only one reason for the decrease in automobile traffic and increased number of persons taking bus ride in midtown - And that reason is Mayor's publicity
 
 In order to weaken the argument we need to find any option which can suggest alternate reason why there was in increase in the traffic.

(A) Fares for all bus routes in Greenville have risen an average of five percent during the past six months.
  Fares are not discussed in this argument - Hence, this option is  IRRELEVANT  
(B) The mayor of Greenville rides the bus to City Hall in the city’s midtown area.
  Mayor rides the bus, is out of scope as it is never discussed - - Hence, this option is  IRRELEVANT  too 
(C) Road reconstruction has greatly reduced the number of lanes available to commuters in major streets leading to the midtown area during the past six months.
  This option provides us with the alternate reason why there is decrease in automobile traffic and increased number of persons taking bus ride in midtown - This is what we are looking for - Lets consider this as possible answer choice and check remaining answer options -  C is the CORRECT answer  
(D) The number of buses entering the midtown area of Greenville during the morning hours is exactly the same now as it was one year ago.
  This option still does not answers our question on why there was decrease in traffic and increased no. of people in bus
 
(E) Surveys show that longtime bus riders are no more satisfied with the Greenville bus service than they were before the mayor’s publicity campaign began
 First of all the passage does not explicitly talks about the longtime riders, further if they are not satisfied with the bus service the number of people taking the bus ride should decrease and not increase

articuno · Answer

Four Step Process:

1. Weaken
2. Deconstruct argument 
Conclusion: Six months ago a campaign -> Leave cars at home. Increase riders on subway
Premise: Project increased riders and reduction in traffic

3. What other catalyst can result in reduced traffic and increased ridership?

4. 
A: People still use the bus. Eliminate. 
B: Irrelevant. Eliminate.
C: Hold
D: Hold
E: This argument is not about the other city. Eliminate.

Let's look at C and D
C: Six Months
D: A year ago. Can still have increased ridership even if have same number of buses. Eliminate.
Don't fall into a trap by thinking "more riders? we need more buses." That would be an outside assumption.

My selection: Choice C.

akadiyan · Answer

Type: Weaken

We need to find alternate reason for why the bus riders has increased in the same period.

(A) Fares for all bus routes in Greenville have risen an average of five percent during the past six months -  This option does not give information on why the commuters by bus have increased.

(B) The mayor of Greenville rides the bus to City Hall in the city’s midtown area -  Irrelevant to our question

(C) Road reconstruction has greatly reduced the number of lanes available to commuters in major streets leading to the midtown area during the past six months -  Reduced number of lanes leads to increased traffic and gives us a reason why more people took to bus - Correct choice.

(D) The number of buses entering the midtown area of Greenville during the morning hours is exactly the same now as it was one year ago -  Irrelevant to our question

(E) Surveys show that longtime bus riders are no more satisfied with the Greenville bus service than they were before the mayor’s publicity campaign began -  Irrelevant to our question

Ans :   C

VerbalBot · Answer

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Since the mayors publicity campaign for Greenvilles bus service bega

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