Q8 - Working residents of Springfield

[Shiggins]

I am stuck between choice C and the answer choice E.

I picked C bc at first I thought it had no impact, but if Springfield has more railways then Rorchester, that can supplement the void of the "lack of buses" Which could help alleviate or calm any demand for transportation.

Answer E relating to a larger population gives more justification to wanting more transportation.

If anyone can help clarify this, add to this, or correct me in any sense. Much appreciated.

[demetri.blaisdell]

Good question. The discrepancy is right in the open: if residents of Springfield live further away from their work, why are there twice as many bus lines in Rorchester?

This question is an EXCEPT question, so 4 will explain the discrepancy and 1 will either confuse us further or have no impact. (E) actually makes us more confused. If the people live further away and there are more of them, why won't the city build the people some bus lines?! This actually eliminates one of the easiest ways of resolving the discrepancy: Springfield has less people. Now that we know they have more people, the paradox is even more paradoxical.

(A) helps to explain the discrepancy. If Springfield residents are all going to a factory outside of the city, why would the city invest in buses?

(B) also gets us there. If Springfield residents all own cars, then again there's no reason to invest in buses.

(C) might appear out of scope at first, but take another look. The only discrepancy was in number of buses. If Springfield has more railway lines than Rorchester, that helps explain why they don't have as many buses. Everybody just takes the train.

(D) requires a careful reading of the stimulus. There are more bus routes in Rorchester, but not necessarily more buses. (D) tells us that despite having less routes, they are longer and have more buses running them (so they can deliver more passengers to meet that high demand).

I hope this helps clear up your confusion. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Demetri

[eunjung.shin]

Good question. The discrepancy is right in the open: if residents of Springfield live further away from their work, why are there twice as many bus lines in Rorchester?

This question is an EXCEPT question, so 4 will explain the discrepancy and 1 will either confuse us further or have no impact. (E) actually makes us more confused. If the people live further away and there are more of them, why won't the city build the people some bus lines?! This actually eliminates one of the easiest ways of resolving the discrepancy: Springfield has less people. Now that we know they have more people, the paradox is even more paradoxical.

(A) helps to explain the discrepancy. If Springfield residents are all going to a factory outside of the city, why would the city invest in buses?

(B) also gets us there. If Springfield residents all own cars, then again there's no reason to invest in buses.

(C) might appear out of scope at first, but take another look. The only discrepancy was in number of buses. If Springfield has more railway lines than Rorchester, that helps explain why they don't have as many buses. Everybody just takes the train.

(D) requires a careful reading of the stimulus. There are more bus routes in Rorchester, but not necessarily more buses. (D) tells us that despite having less routes, they are longer and have more buses running them (so they can deliver more passengers to meet that high demand).

I hope this helps clear up your confusion. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Demetri

I picked the right answer but I have a question about D. While I agree with your explanation on D, what about frequency? If Springfield wants to run a longer routes and more frequently, wont it need more buses?

[demetri.blaisdell]

Thanks for the question, eunjung.shin. I really appreciate when students read what's already here like you clearly did and I'm always happy to answer a follow-up.

You are absolutely right that Springfield would need more buses to run longer bus routes with buses that come more frequently. That's what makes it resolve the paradox!

But that doesn't contradict the stimulus because the stimulus just says Springfield has less bus routes than Rorchester. So the four wrong answers resolve the paradox and only (E) makes it even more paradoxical (more people and fewer bus routes---that doesn't explain it at all).

I hope this helps. Let me know if you still have any questions.

Demetri

[denis468]

actually makes us more confused. If the people live further away and there are more of them, why won't the city build the people some bus lines?!

You make an unwarranted assumption that people live further away, the argument does not mention this. We may as well assume that Since Springfield has more population and they all live in high-rises, that's why People in Springfield don't need as many buses.

[demetri.blaisdell]

Thanks for posting, denis468. I'm not quite sure I understand your point. The stimulus says that the people of Springfield on average live further away from where they work. Is that what you thought I was assuming? Help me understand and I'll do my best to re-explain. Maybe you caught me making assumptions. It's easy to get turned around on these tough LR questions.

Demetri