Vocabulary

1 vehicle – транспортное средство

2 in addition to – в добавление, к тому же, сверх, кроме того

3 omnibus – омнибус; автобус

4 entrepreneur – предприниматель

5 stableman – грум; конюх

6 livery – прокат

7 freight-hauling – транспортировка груза

8 shuttle bus – пригородный автобус

9 to disembark – высаживаться

10 to resemble – напоминать

Text work:

1. Agree or disagree with the following statements according to the text:

1 Bus service started in Los Angeles in 1829.

2 In most cases, the city and town government did not grant private livery companies.

3 In 1831 a great reform in omnibus system took place.

4 At present bus transportation is no longer popular.

5 Bus service can be divided into several groups.

6 Local lines provide rare stops along a route.

7 Shuttle bus services organize transportation between shopping center and the city center.

8 Tour bus service takes tourists to picturesque places by bus.

9 School bus service is widely spread in Russia.

10 School buses are used for transportation to sport grounds.

2. Look through the text once again and explain to your partner the meaning of the dates and names given below.

1 Abraham Brower

2 1835

3 Washington Irving

4 1832

5 Trailways Transportation System

6 Local lines

7 Shuttle bus

8 Duck Tours

9 School bus

10 the San Francisco public school system

3. Work with your partner. Make a list of advantages and disadvantages of traveling by bus. Compare your lists with other pairs of students. How many correspondences have you got?

4. Read the following extract about bus schedule irregularity, analyze the reasons and try to find out the same question in Russia:

Operation of a bus service inevitably varies from the published schedule and timetables due to a range of factors including traffic, weather, passenger loading variations, and operating staff behaviour. Schedules may be focussed on maintaining a headway between each vehicle on a route, rather setting out the exact time a bus will arrive at each bus stop.

Bus crews may behave in ways which affect these headways:

- 'Scratching' is the colloquial term for the bus being driven slowly, or the crew holding it at a bus stop for no apparent reason.

- 'Punching-up' is the act of closing the headway with the bus in front, but never overtaking it, in this case two buses arrive at the same time.

- 'Measuring off' is similar to punching up, except the crew of the second bus keeps a small headway so that all passengers at the bus stops board the bus in front, and they arrive at a bus stop with little chance of needing to service any passengers.

5. Analyse the following points of criticism connected with bus service in Melbourne. What points can be related to Russian bus service? Add your own examples. Compare your list with your partner. Discuss it with other students.

The Melbourne bus network is less developed than either the train or tram system. Buses in Melbourne have the (often justified) reputation of being a poorer transport mode and are frequently criticised on many grounds. The main points of such criticism usually include:

• The lack of network-wide planning. New services are often grafted on without changes to existing services. This can lead to wasteful duplication in some areas while other areas go without service.

• Slow and indirect routes. Walking is often faster than waiting for and riding on a bus due to a combination of circuitous routes and poor service frequencies. In addition the bus system is riddled with anomalies such as occasional deviations, early finishing, varying public holiday arrangements and some operators imposing reduced service 'summer timetables'.

• Poor days and hours of operation. The majority of Melbourne bus routes finish at around 7 pm on weekdays, 6 pm Saturdays and do not run at all on Sundays, making them unsuitable for modern travel, working and shopping patterns.

• Poor service frequency. Many bus routes operate at a frequency of 40 minutes or hourly, even during peak hour. As a result passengers must plan trips to avoid long waits, and in some cases poor connections between services make them unavoidable.

• No correlation between service levels and route importance or passenger demand.

• Lack of timetable and service co-ordination. Hence passengers are continually juggling timetables to find a service offering the best connection.

• Missing or out of date passenger information at bus stops. Unlike the tram system, where all stops have current timetables, timetables at bus stops are often either missing, out of date or do not include details for all routes that serve the stop.

6. Project work.

Work in groups of three. Invent some travel route and describe all the advantages of the chosen type of transport. Make a presentation of your idea. Compare your presentation with other students’ ideas. Choose the best travel route in your group.