Winston: The Public Transportation Authority (PTA) cannot fulfill its mandate to operate without a budget deficit unless it eliminates service during late‐night periods of low ridership.
Ping's Conclusion
Getting rid of nighttime service might be a net loss for PTA.
Evidence
The PTA would lose those riders who leave home during the day but must return late at night.
Evaluate
This is all about Net Gain / Loss. The PTA is currently losing money on their late hours. So if they got rid of those late hours, they'd save some money. But people who use the train to head into work in the morning and come home during those late hours, would presumably stop riding the train (if they could no longer use it to ride home).
So would the loss of those fares be more or less than the money the PTA would save by getting rid of the unprofitable late hours?
Goal
Let's find an answer that provides evidence of how many riders depend on late-night service and how significant their fares are in maintaining overall PTA revenues. It should support the idea that the revenue loss from discontinuing late-night service outweighs the cost savings.