#18 - Winston: The Public Transportation Authority (PTA)

[alexisjay26]

Hi,

I’m having trouble understanding why A is correct for this problem. The conclusion is based upon the fact that the PTA would lose two fares and only have savings for one. If one of the fares is people who leave home during the day then wouldn’t saying some rides are initiated at night, instead of during the day, hurt the argument?

Thanks

[Malila Robinson]

Hi Alexisjay26,
Winston's argument is that all late night services should be eliminated in order to save money, so that would include both rides that were initiated at night and also those that were the return trips from rides initiated earlier in the day. But Winston's argument focuses only on the money collected from the folks riding in the late night without taking into account the fact that some people who initiate their ride in the day need to return during the late night. Ping is pointing out that if the late night service was eliminated those folks who initiate the ride in the day but use the late night service to get home may not use the PTA anymore since they would not be able to get home that way anymore. Answer A strengthens this aspect of the Pings argument by showing that over 1/5 of the PTA's riders might be affected by this termination of services (instead of the lower percentage that you would get if you only focused on the folks who were initiating rides in the late night hours), and that higher percentage of folks not using the PTA would likely not help the deficit.
Hope that helps!
-Malila

[alex.r.berson@gmail.com]

Hi there,

I'm having trouble seeing how (A) is the right answer over (B) - wouldn't the large percentage indicated in (B) be more convincing than (A)?

[Luke Haqq]

Hi Alex!

While answer choice (B) mentions a larger percentage than (A), it's not clear why it's relevant. Similarly, answer choice (D) mentions a larger percentage, but again it's a percentage that's not especially relevant. Regarding answer choice (B), we'd need something more in the stimulus that gives us some guidance as to what we are to make of a survey about opposition or support people may have for cutting PTA services. For instance, (B) could have said that 100% of the PTA's riders oppose any cuts in services, but this wouldn't really do anything to affect Ping's conclusion about the PTA losing fares.