Night Bus, Empty Seats: Judging a Candidate's Inference
Read this passage from a mock paper: 'The town's new night bus was sold as a lifeline for shift workers. It runs four times a night, from the industrial estate to the hospital. After six months, the average load is nine passengers. The operator calls the service "a social necessity"; the council's finance chair calls it "a subsidy for empty seats". The drivers, who finish their shifts at 2 a.m., have not been consulted. The timetable, printed in English only, is pinned inside the depot, where few passengers ever go.' A candidate writes: 'The writer thinks the bus is useless and that the council is right.' The teacher says the summary is 'not wrong, but too simple'. The passage is 92 words; the candidate's answer is 16 words. The question asks you to assess the candidate's inference, not to write a new summary.
1. Is the candidate's summary fair? Support your judgement with two details from the passage.
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Not fair as it stands. The candidate treats the passage as a one-sided attack, but the writer sets up competing descriptions and leaves the cause open. Two details: (1) 'was sold as a lifeline' signals a promise made at launch, not the writer's own verdict; the later figure of nine passengers measures the promise against use. (2) The final sentence says the timetable is 'printed in English only' and 'pinned inside the depot, where few passengers ever go'-this points to poor communication and access, not proof that shift workers do not need the bus. The council's 'subsidy for empty seats' is one voice in the passage, not the writer's conclusion. A fair summary would say the writer presents a service that may be needed but is badly implemented, and refuses to settle the blame.
2. What does 'a subsidy for empty seats' reveal about the finance chair's attitude, and how does the final sentence complicate that view?
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'A subsidy for empty seats' is a cost-centred, dismissive phrase. 'Subsidy' frames the bus as a drain on public money; 'empty seats' reduces the service to its visible underuse. The finance chair is not denying that a bus runs; they are denying that it earns its cost. The final sentence complicates this by offering an alternative explanation for the empty seats: the timetable is in English only and is posted where passengers do not go. If people cannot easily find or read the timetable, low ridership may be a design failure rather than proof of no demand. So the phrase is rhetorically effective but not the whole story; the writer withholds agreement by placing it beside the access detail.
3. The word 'lifeline' is used in the first sentence. Is it literal or figurative, and what does that choice suggest about the original promise?
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Figurative. A 'lifeline' is literally a rope thrown to a person in water; here it means an essential service that rescues shift workers from isolation or unsafe travel. The metaphor is flattering to the service and makes the later statistic ironic: a lifeline with nine passengers is not obviously saving many people. 'Sold as' is important-it marks the lifeline image as marketing or political language, not neutral description. The choice prepares the reader to ask whether the promise matched the delivery.