Blue Commutes

 The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a local newspaper.

"Commuters complain that increased rush-hour traffic on Blue Highway between the suburbs and the city center has doubled their commuting time. The favored proposal of the motorists' lobby is to widen the highway, adding an additional lane of traffic. But last year's addition of a lane to the nearby Green Highway was followed by a worsening of traffic jams on it. A better alternative is to add a bicycle lane to Blue Highway. Many area residents are keen bicyclists. A bicycle lane would encourage them to use bicycles to commute, and so would reduce rush-hour traffic rather than fostering an increase."

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.

The primary concern here is the rush-hour traffic being an abysmal experience for commuters on the Blue highway, one which needs quick rectification and resolution. Several evidences are missing from the proposal however, which are necessary and integral to the implementation of the proposal.  

The largest being, whether or not the residents of the suburbs are willing to cycle to their destinations in the city. It is mentioned that the Blue highway connects the suburbs to the city and it can also be safely assumed that there might be detours on the highway to intermediate suburbs. However, viewing the situation in it’s primary light most commuters can be said to want to travel long enough distances that cycling may be unsafe, not feasible, and the weather especially may not support it all the time. If It is consistently raining, or the temperature is excessively high, cycling is out of the question from a distant suburb to a crowded urban city.

Moreover, the mere presence of a cycling lane doesn’t seem enough to inspire keen cyclists to use it. The addition of provisions like refreshments, and even terrain would encourage cyclists to try out the route and bring it into habit. But as it stands it is highly unlikely that a simple bicycling lane would do much to shift people from the comfort of their cars to cycling long distances. Cycling within suburbs or to nearby suburbs is an option but to a whole other city is quite a stretch.

The proposition also makes use of the phrase “Many area residents are keen cyclists”, and that is simply too vague of a quantity. Nor does it emphasize on residents of which area they are speaking of. So we do not know how many constitutes “Many” and who  and where these “area residents” are. It would support this argument much more if there was a comprehensive statistic and data about the cyclists of the region along with testimonials that they do actively require a bicycling lane.

For all we know, even upon addition of a cycling lane the rush-hour traffic might remain unchanged. This could be attributed to piqued initial interest in the population before they revert back to using their vehicles on the road. Regularities and consistency can be rarely guaranteed.

The addition of a lane is outright eliminated as an option, however, there is no proof other than a mention of another Green highway. It would be much more convincing if the paths of the Blue and Green were compared and explained because Green being a completely different highway opens it to a new set of hindrances. That isn’t to say that the author is incorrect, just that the effects of an action on another highway do not accurately predict ones that will be experienced by another.

A better option would be to have more effective public transport, or metro, or shuttles between the suburbs and cities. This would allow for all the residents to explore cheaper, eco-friendly, convenient options. Public transport would also save the government long term by saving on maintenance of the road and reducing tension on the highways. 

There is definitely no right answer in the pursuit for public management and better results can only be received by better research and observation of the traffic along with a bit of trial and error and a lot of cooperation of the general public that makes use of this highway.

Time taken
: 25 mins

Word count: 572