The heavy traffic in Masana is a growing drain on the city's economy

Evaluation of a Plan

Situation
Traffic congestion in Masana has been harming the city's economy. To address the problem, officials plan to make drivers pay to enter the city's most heavily trafficked areas during the busiest times of day.

Reasoning
What would most strongly suggest that the plan will reduce the harm to Masana's economy from traffic congestion? In order to succeed, the plan will have to be implemented and effectively enforced. Furthermore, the prices drivers pay will have to be high enough to significantly change their behavior in ways that reduce the amount of traffic congestion in the city. Finally, the economic benefits from the reduced traffic congestion will have to substantially outweigh any economically damaging side effects of the congestion pricing. Any evidence that any of these conditions will hold would provide at least some support for the prediction that the plan will succeed.

(A) This provides no evidence that the congestion pricing would affect the behavior of either the one-fifth of drivers whose vehicles traverse the city or of the other four-fifths of drivers, nor does it give any evidence that the plan would produce overriding economic benefits.

(B) This indicates that the traffic problem will grow worse if the plan is not implemented, but it does not provide any evidence that the plan will help address the problem.

(C) Correct. This indicates that similar plans have successfully changed drivers' behavior in other cities in a way likely to reduce the number of cars on the road in heavily trafficked areas at busy times of day without producing harmful economic side effects. Thus, it provides evidence that the strategy could also be successful in Masana.

(D) Although this suggests that reducing traffic congestion would be economically beneficial, it doesn't provide any evidence that the plan will succeed in reducing traffic congestion.

(E) This suggests that many drivers in the city center are already carpooling, which, if anything, indicates that the plan will be less able to further affect those drivers' behavior and thus could be less effective than it might otherwise be.

Masana's Traffic

Step 1: Identify the Question

The question asks for the answer that would indicate that the plan will be a success, so this is a Strengthen the Argument question.

Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument

Traffic hurts econ

→cost =1.2B

Plan: congestion pricing

Step 3: Pause and State the Goal

On Strengthen questions, the goal is to find an answer that makes the conclusion more likely. In this problem, look for a reason that congestion pricing will be more likely to address the traffic congestion and associated economic issues in Masana.

Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right

(A) Based on this answer 20% of drivers are going across the city, and 80% are driving for other purposes. There is no clear relationship between this information and the effectiveness of congestion pricing (i.e. are drivers traversing the city more or less likely to not drive if congestion pricing is implemented?).

(B) The argument establishes that traffic is already a problem. This answer suggests that this problem is likely to get worse in the next five years, but this information does not help evaluate whether congestion pricing will help.

(C) CORRECT. This answer states that congestion pricing was effective in reducing traffic in other cities because commuters carpooled, reducing the number of cars on the road. Knowing that a plan worked in a similar situation supports the idea that the plan might have its intended effect in Masana.

(D) This answers links the traffic issues to economic issues, stating that there is information that a reduction in traffic could benefit the economy through the creation of jobs. It does not, however, address whether the specific plan of implementing congestion pricing would result in reduced traffic.

(E) If anything, this answer weakens the argument because it suggests that additional carpooling (encouraging carpooling is one way that congestion pricing might reduce traffic) may not be feasible in Masana because many cars already contain multiple passengers.