Diagnostic Test 14 Practice Test
•107 QuestionsCity transit agencies typically fight peak-hour crowding by adding trains, a costly fix. A transportation researcher proposes a cheaper lever: push big downtown employers to stagger start times by 30-60 minutes. The claim is that when thousands of riders shift away from 8-9 a.m., the peak flattens, reducing crush loads without new infrastructure. To test this, evidence must show a drop specifically in peak-interval ridership on routes serving participating firms, ideally compared with unaffected routes. Findings that merely note overall annual ridership changes, or that coincide with unrelated events like storms, would be weak. Because commute behavior varies by line, a comparison group helps rule out seasonal trends or shocks. A result linking staggered schedules to a measured peak reduction would most directly support the claim.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researcher's claim?
City transit agencies typically fight peak-hour crowding by adding trains, a costly fix. A transportation researcher proposes a cheaper lever: push big downtown employers to stagger start times by 30-60 minutes. The claim is that when thousands of riders shift away from 8-9 a.m., the peak flattens, reducing crush loads without new infrastructure. To test this, evidence must show a drop specifically in peak-interval ridership on routes serving participating firms, ideally compared with unaffected routes. Findings that merely note overall annual ridership changes, or that coincide with unrelated events like storms, would be weak. Because commute behavior varies by line, a comparison group helps rule out seasonal trends or shocks. A result linking staggered schedules to a measured peak reduction would most directly support the claim.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researcher's claim?