September 2009 LSAT Section 1 Question 8

Working residents of Springfield live, on average, farther from their workplaces than do working residents of Rorches...

Julie-V on July 27, 2019

Choice (C)

Hi LSAT Max, Can someone break down answer choice (C)? If it says that Rorchester has fewer railway lines than Springfield, is it giving an alternate mode of transportation which is why the residents of S aren't complaining about the amount of public transportation they already have? I'm having a hard time seeing if this is what the answer choice is trying to get at and if it would resolve the discrepancy. Thanks in advance!

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Irina on July 27, 2019

@Julie,

Let's briefly look at the argument.

Residents of S live, on average, farther from their workplaces than residents of R. Thus, one would expect higher demand for public transportation in S. However, S has only half as many bus routes as R.

Each of the answer choices would provide an explanation for the apparent discrepancy EXCEPT for the correct one since this is an EXCEPT question.

(C) helps to resolve the paradox because it suggests that S residents are taking a train for their commutes instead of a bus, which would explain why there are fewer bus routes - because there are more railways lines than in R. Since R has fewer railways than S, it makes sense that people in R take the bus for their commutes to work.

Does this make sense? Let me know if you have any other questions.