بخش سوم

Page 88

Track 30

Listening 3

1

In my town, public transportation was never very good.

You had to drive everywhere, so there was always traffic.

The government wanted to make public transportation easier than driving cars.

They bought some nice new buses, for example, and they added air conditioning to the ones we already had.

They also began offering lower bus fares on the weekends. so more people would be encouraged to try the new buses.

They raised taxi fares, too. I guess they figure that if taxis cost more. people might think about using buses more often.

2

Well, the problem was that thousands of people drove into the city center every day. and there weren’t enough parking spaces.

So the government wanted to make parking easier.

But they didn’t build more parking garages. Instead, they tried to keep cars out of the city center.

Recently, they started making people who drive their cars downtown pay a daily fee.

You have to pay $10 if you want to drive your car into the center between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.

At the same time, they have raised the parking lot rates, so people think twice before they drive their car into the city.

3

Traffic was a real problem around here.

It moved so slowly. Last year the government turned a bunch of streets downtown into one-way streets.

This helped the traffic move more quickly. Special lanes on roads just for buses were built at the same time.

If you’re caught driving your car in a bus lane. you have to pay a fine—and it’s a really high fine!

Also, they passed a law last year that says you can only drive your car downtown three days a week.

You have to display a special pass in your car that says which days you’re allowed to drive downtown.

4

Air pollution in our city was a huge problem, and we really needed to lower it.

I guess that’s why the government started putting special bicycle lanes on the streets downtown. That way.

people can ride their bikes to work instead of using their stinky cars!

They also made a rule that says there must be at least two people in your car if you want to drive downtown during the week.

They also ordered these amazing new pollution-free buses.

They use electricity. so they don’t put anything bad into the air.