Self-study
Working residents of Springfield live, on average, farther from their workplaces than do working residents of Rorchester. █████ ███ █████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ██████ ██████████████ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████████ ████ ██ ███████████ ████████ ███████████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Despite residents in Springfield living further from their workplaces than those in Rorchester, Springfield has half as many bus routes as Rorchester.
Objective
This is an “Except” question. The correct answer will not explain why Springfield has less bus routes than Rorchester, despite having a higher expected demand for public transit.
8.
Each of the following, if █████ ███████████ ██ █ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████████ █████████ █████ ███████
a
Three-fourths of the ███████████ █████████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ███████ ███ ████ ███████
So Springfield’s workforce generally can’t use local public transit to get to work, because they work outside the city. Or maybe there's a single inter-city bus that carries most of the workforce. Either way, this explains why they have fewer bus routes.
b
The average number ██ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████████ ████ ██ ███████████
Springfield doesn’t need as many buses as Rorchester, since more people in Springfield drive to work. This explains the unexpected lack of bus routes in Springfield.
c
Rorchester has fewer ███████ █████ ████ ████████████
While Rorchester relies on bus routes, Springfield more frequently uses rail transit. Hence, fewer bus routes in Springfield.
d
Buses in Springfield ███ ████ ██████████ ███ ██ ██████ ██████ ████ ██ ███████████
Springfield indeed has fewer bus routes, but the routes it does have are more robust. Springfield doesn’t need more bus routes to match its transit demand—its existing routes can handle high passenger traffic.
e
Springfield has a ██████ ██████████ ████ ██████████ █████
This only intensifies the stimulus—if anything, we would expect a larger population to mean more bus routes. This does not begin to explain why Springfield has fewer bus routes, it just intensifies our confusion.