Target Test Prep GMAT Verbal Challenge Question 2

Solution:

Fact 1: Over the past three years, fees for parking automobiles in Shemerton's central business district have increased, and the Shemerton transportation authority has improved Shemerton's public transportation system by adding bus routes and by increasing the number of trains that run per hour.

Fact 2: The number of people using public transportation to travel to and around Shemerton has decreased over the same period of time.

Picture it: It became more expensive to park automobiles in Shemerton's central business district, and the public transportation system improved. Yet, the number of people using the public transportation system decreased.

The key to answering this question is noticing that what has to be explained is not that few people are using public transportation or that public transportation use has not increased. It's that public transportation use has decreased. If we fail to pay attention to this key directional detail, we could easily end up choosing an incorrect answer, one that explains the wrong phenomenon.

To correctly answer this question, we have to explain a decrease.

(A) The bus routes added over the past three years were added in areas in and around Shemerton where the population densities are relatively low.

The fact that the bus routes were added in areas with relatively low population densities might explain a different outcome, such as the number of people using public transportation remaining about the same. However, the addition of bus routes would not be the reason for a decrease in ridership.

The fact of the matter is that there are still more bus routes now than there were before, so even if routes were added only in areas with low population densities, we would still expect to see a slight increase or no change in ridership, not a decrease.

Thus, what this answer choice says does not resolve the paradox.

(B) Many people who live in the Shemerton area do not consider the cost savings they can achieve using public transportation worth the hassles of using it.

What this choice says might explain why the number of people using public transportation did not increase. However, it does not explain a decrease.

We have no reason to believe that the Shemertonians who don't consider the cost savings from using public transportation worth the hassles didn't already have that opinion before the improvements to the system were made. So, they likely weren't using public transportation before, and they're still not using it now.

The fact that people feel this way about public transportation could explain there being no change in ridership. However, this information about something that has likely been true on an ongoing basis does not explain the decrease in ridership we're seeking to explain.

CORRECT ANSWER(C) In the Shemerton area, people's ability to afford to purchase and maintain automobiles was hampered by an economic recession that ended three years ago.

If, as this choice tells us, the recession ended three years ago, then, presumably, people in the Shemerton area have become more able to purchase and maintain automobiles than they were during the recession. Therefore, what makes sense is that the number of people driving cars would have increased over the three years since the recessions ended.

So, this change in people's economic circumstances certainly explains why, despite the increases in parking fees and the improvement of the public transportation system, the number of people using public transportation has decreased. People have switched to using cars.

So, this choice explains the decrease and resolves the apparent paradox.

Now, here's a tip on execution.

Notice that this choice could seem to be about a recession and, therefore, could seem to have nothing to do with public transportation. Because of that characteristic of this choice, many people decide that this choice is irrelevant before they read the entire choice. In doing so they miss the last five words of the choice, which five words they need to read in order to see that this choice explains the decrease. As a result of not reading those five words, they miss the question. The takeaway here is that it's important to read Critical Reasoning answer choices in their entirety to ensure that we don't miss something key.

(D) In the Shemerton area, the price of fuel for automobiles has not increased significantly over the past three years.

The fact that the price of fuel for automobiles has not increased significantly means that the price of fuel has either remained about the same or decreased; we don't know which. So, all we can tell from what this choice says is that a particular type of change, a significant increase, has not occurred.

Perhaps if the price of fuel for automobiles had decreased significantly, that decrease would explain the decrease in the use of public transportation, but since we have no reason to believe that a drop in price is any more likely than no change in price, this answer choice does not resolve the paradox.

As we consider this choice, we have to be careful not to turn “has not increased significantly” into “has decreased” in our minds.

(E) While the number of trains per hour in Shemerton increased, the routes traveled and the stops made by trains did not change.

Even without any addition of train routes or stops, an increase in the number of trains per hour should result in either an increase or no change in ridership, and certainly not a decrease.

What this choice says does not change the fact stated in the passage: the number of trains per hour increased. An increase in the number of trains would not have caused a decrease in public transportation ridership. Thus, this answer choice does not resolve the paradox.