Question

A stairwell in a certain office building is always congested at 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. The congestion is so bad that people have been complaining to the building's owner. Which of the following methods would be the most efficient way of reducing congestion?

a. Assign each person in the building a time when they are allowed to use the stairwell.
b. Encourage people to voluntarily keep off the stairwell during peak times.
c. Charge everyone who uses the stairwell when it is congested the same fee which is high enough to discourage some people from using the stairwell during peak times. People who value the use of the stairs the most will be the ones who use the stairwell at peak times.
d. Hold a lottery to determine who wins the right to use the stairwell at peak times.

Answer 1

The correct answer is:

Charge everyone who uses the stairwell when it is congested the same fee which is high enough to discourage some people from using the stairwell during peak times. People who value the use of the stairs the most will be the ones who use the stairwell at peak times. (c)

Step-by-step explanation:

If everyone who uses the stairwell at peak times is charged a fee for usage, this will help to reduce the number of people using the stairs at such times because the only people willing to pay such fees will be priority users, who gain value out of the use of the stairs at such times, other will be forced to limit the use of the stairs at the peak times.

The other options (a, b and d) are not valid options because they will negatively affect priority users if the stakes do not fall in their favour, hence will not be efficient ways of controlling the congestion.