The city of Urbanville has experienced a significant increase in

Question

The city of Urbanville has experienced a significant increase in traffic congestion over the past five years. The city council proposes implementing a congestion charge for vehicles entering the city center during peak hours. They argue that this measure will reduce traffic congestion by encouraging more people to use public transportation or carpool.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the city council's argument that implementing a congestion charge will reduce traffic congestion in Urbanville?

A. Similar congestion charge schemes in other cities have led to a 15% reduction in vehicle traffic during peak hours.

B. The majority of vehicles entering Urbanville's city center during peak hours are driven by commuters who work in the area.

C. Urbanville has recently expanded its public transportation network, including new bus routes and increased frequency of subway trains.

D. The proposed congestion charge would apply only to private vehicles, exempting taxis and commercial vehicles.

E. A survey shows that 30% of Urbanville residents are strongly opposed to the implementation of a congestion charge.

tomloveless · Accepted Answer

"A" is always out of scope in every single GMAT CR question ever created because of too many variables associated with not knowing what the other city has for factors related to the given subject. I truly despise these questions. This is definitely not an OP question.

siddhantvarma · Answer

Let's analyze each option. We need to see which might strengthen the city council's argument for implementing a congestion charge to reduce traffic congestion.

A. Similar congestion charge schemes in other cities have led to a 15% reduction in vehicle traffic during peak hours.

This option  somewhat  directly strengthens the council's argument. I say somewhat because based on the success of a scheme in another city, we can't with certainty determine that the same scheme would work in another city as well. Multiple factors may come into play. However, this option does provide  evidence  from other cities that congestion charges can effectively reduce peak-hour traffic. This real-world data supports the likelihood that a similar scheme would work in Urbanville. While it doesn't guarantee that the plan will work, it does give us a good reason to implement it based on some evidence.   A sounds good, let's hold on to it.

B. The majority of vehicles entering Urbanville's city center during peak hours are driven by commuters who work in the area.

While this information is relevant, it doesn't directly strengthen the argument that a congestion charge will reduce traffic. It describes the current situation without indicating how these commuters might respond to a charge. If the majority of vehicles entering Ubranville's city center during peak hours are driven by commuters who work in the area, if these commuters end up using public transport, the congestion would reduce greatly. However, we don't know by this statement that the commuters would actually end up using public transport or carpool due to the congestion charges.   Although tempting, B is out.

C. Urbanville has recently expanded its public transportation network, including new bus routes and increased frequency of subway trains.

This option states that alternatives to driving are available. However, it doesn't directly address the effectiveness of the congestion charge itself. Sure, public transportation is readily available for people to use to reduce congestion, but why will they use it? It's mere availability doesn't tell us that people will actually use it.   C is insufficient, so it's out.

D. The proposed congestion charge would apply only to private vehicles, exempting taxis and commercial vehicles.

If anything this tells us that congestion might not reduce as much based on the current plan since some vehicles which are exempted of the congestion charges could still contribute (even heavily) towards the congestion.   D is definitely incorrect.

E. A survey shows that 30% of Urbanville residents are strongly opposed to the implementation of a congestion charge.

This option weakens the argument, as it suggests there might be resistance to the policy. It doesn't provide any information about the policy's potential effectiveness.   E is certainly out.

A provides the strongest support for the city council's argument.  Therefore, the correct answer is A.

PriyeshLakar · Answer

Why is "D" wrong? " The proposed congestion charge would apply only to private vehicles, exempting taxis and commercial vehicles." - Doesn't this imply that more people will end up taking public transportation and hence reduce traffic

utkarshb21 · Answer

Isn't A out of scope? B is the only option that takes info from the passage and apply it

siddhantvarma · Answer

This is what the argument states:
 Premise : City has experienced a significant increase in traffic congestion over the past five years
 Plan : Implementing a congestion charge for vehicles entering the city center during peak hours
 Reasoning : Plan will encourage more people to use public transportation or carpool.

Now we need to find an answer choice that  most  compliments or supports the plan and helps us say that the plan will indeed help reduce traffic congestion.

D states that:

We don't know what vehicle types account for the traffic congestion during peak hours - are these majorly private vehicles? Or are these taxis and commercial vehicles? 
The only way you could use (D) to strengthen or support the plan is by saying that private vehicles are majorly responsible for traffic congestion. We'll have to  assume  that the congestion charge that applies only to private vehicles are the major contributing factor to the congestion and not other vehicles. If the first line of the passage was
 "The city of Urbanville has experienced a significant increase in traffic congestion over the past five years due to private vehicles." (D) could be a good answer choice that would definitely strengthen the argument. We can't base our answer choice on an assumption that's neither stated nor implied anywhere in the argument. It's a stretch to assume that private vehicles are the sole reason for congestion when we're given no evidence that states so.

siddhantvarma · Answer

How do you define "out of scope" here?

A states that:

This gives me some assurance that the plan could succeed. Sure, the other cities could be different, maybe the causes for congestion in other cities are also different. But we're only looking for an answer choice that  most  strengthens the argument. This strengthens the argument, definitely, but to what extent we don't know and we probably don't care. We only need to check if there's another option that  strengthens the argument more .

Let's look at B:

Okay so the congestion is caused by commuters who work in the same area. If you impose a congestion charge to these commuters, would they switch to public transport that reduces congestion? We don't know. (B) by itself doesn't tell us anything if the plan will succeed or not. It gives us some information, but that's not helping us decide if the plan will succeed or not.

MartyMurray · Answer

Choices about possibly similar situations, such as situations in other cities, are not always out of scope. Here's an official question in which the strengthening choice is also about other cities. https://gmatclub.com/forum/a-moderately ... 94372.html

The city of Urbanville has experienced a significant increase in

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