The Daily Journey from his Home to his Office Takes John Bond on Average an Hour and Thirty-Five Minutes by Car.

Question: The daily journey from his home to his office takes John Bond on average an hour and thirty-five minutes by car. A friends has told him of a different route that is longer in mileage, but will only take an hour and quarter on average, because it contains stretches of roads where it is possible to drive at higher speed.
John Bond's only consideration apart from the time factor is the cost, and he calculates that his car will consume 10% less gasoline if he takes the suggested new route. John decides to take the new route for the next two weeks as an experiment.
If the above were the only other considerations, which one of the following may have an effect on the decision John has made?

(A) Major road work is begun on the shorter (in distance) route, which holds up traffic for an extra ten minutes. The project will take six months, but after it, the improvements will allow the journey to be made in half an hour less than at present.
(B) There is to be a strike at local gas stations and the amount of gasoline drivers may purchase maybe rationed.
(C) John finds a third route which is slightly longer than his old route, but shorter than the suggested route.
(D) The old route passes the door of a work colleague, who with out a ride, would have to go to work by bus.
(E) None of the above.

The Daily Journey from his Home to his Office Takes John Bond on Average an Hour and Thirty Five Minutes by Car – is a GMAT critical reasoning topic. This GMAT Critical Reasoning topic has been taken from the book ‘GMAT Official Guide Verbal review 2022’. In this particular topic, candidates are asked to select the most appropriate explanation which undermines an effect on the decision John has made. In this question, the candidates need to provide an option that supports the argument provided in the passage. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. Critical reasoning in GMAT requires candidates to find the strengths and weaknesses of the argument, or find the logical flaw in the argument.  The GMAT CR section contains 10 -13 GMAT critical reasoning questions out of 36 GMAT verbal questions.

Answer: D
Explanation:

This is a GMAT critical reasoning question. An assumption is an implied hypothesis. So we are looking for something that is implied in the argument. In case it is wrong or maybe disable the argument.

The statement states - Instead of blaming an automobile accident on driver error, insurance companies should first try to figure out why the error was made by analyzing flaws in road design, automobile designs, and criteria to determine eligibility for a driver's license. Only then will the insurance companies be able to effectively issue guidelines to prevent future accidents, instead of merely punishing the incidental driver.

Let's go through the assumptions that suit the most with the given argument:

1. Major road work is begun on the shorter (in distance) route, which holds up traffic for an extra ten minutes. The project will take six months, but after it, the improvements will allow the journey to be made in half an hour less than at present. – This is not the correct answer. The new road will be available in six months, and John has made a decision about the next two weeks. Hence, we can consider this incorrect.
2. There is to be a strike at local gas stations and the amount of gasoline drivers may purchase maybe rationed. – As per this point, we can see that rationing the gas available to drivers will not affect the attractiveness of the new route vs the current route. Hence, this can be considered as an incorrect option.
3. John finds a third route which is slightly longer than his old route, but shorter than the suggested route. – This is the correct answer. This third route is shorter than the new option he is about to test. It is longer than his current route (but so is the other one). If this third route is as fuel-efficient as the option he is about to test, and if it also has stretches where he can drive faster and save time compared to his current route, then this third route would be a better option than the one he is about to test. This in turn affects his decision of testing route #2, because he would test route #3 instead.
   
   We have recevied the correct answer. However, we will check why D and E are incorrect. 
    
4. The old route passes the door of a work colleague, who with out a ride, would have to go to work by bus. – As per this option, we don't know if the colleague pays for part of the trip, so not very relevant option. This is out of scope and hence, incorrect.
5. None of the above – Since we have received the correct answer, none of the above is not the correct answer. 

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