Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 606, Reading a Bus Schedule.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 606.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Go there to download a learning guide for this episode, an 8-10 page guide including a complete transcript of everything we say.
This episode is called Reading a Bus Schedule.
It's a dialogue between Louisa and Kurt about how you read the schedule, the information about places and times for a bus.
Let's get started.
This was my first visit to McQuillanville.
I wanted to avoid driving, so I decided to take the bus around the city.
However, I was having some trouble figuring out the bus schedule.
Excuse me, could you help me read this bus schedule?
I can try.
Where do you want to go?
I want to go downtown, but I'm not sure which bus to take Let me see that bus schedule.
Here's a listing of the route numbers on the back of this schedule.
Look for a bus that goes downtown.
Oh, I see.
That's great.
Tomorrow, I want to arrive at the podcast museum at 10am when it opens.
Which bus will I have to take?
Let me look at this bus schedule.
That simple.
All you have to do is find the stop closest to the museum, then look down the column to find the arrival time of 10 am or before and work backwards to see what time that bus passes the stop at your starting point.
Got it?
I think so, but I don't think there's a bus that goes directly from here to downtown.
In that case it says on the schedule that you'll need to get a transfer from the driver of the first bus so you can ride for free on the second bus.
Just take the additional time into account.
Mornings are peak times and, according to this schedule, the buses run more frequently to accommodate commuters, so it shouldn't take you a lot longer.
It also says here that you'll need to have a bus pass or exact change for the fare when you board.
Thanks a lot for all the help.
Do you know how much the fare is?
I have no idea.
I've never ridden the bus before in McQuillonville.
Then how do you know so much about riding the bus?
I can read.
Louisa says that this is her first visit to McQuillanville.
McQuillanville, of course, is one of the more beautiful places in the world you should really visit.
She says that she wanted to avoid driving during her visit, so she decided to take the bus home or ride the bus around the city.
She's going to use the bus to get from one place to another.
However, she says I was having some trouble, some difficulty figuring out or understanding the bus schedule, which is the written information about where buses go, where they stop, how often they go, at what times and so forth.
Louisa asks someone on the street, someone she sees.
She says, excuse me, Kurt says the other person she's talking with.
I can try.
Louisa responds, Most of the businesses are located in a typical city.
But she says, I'm not sure which bus to take.
Kurt says, let me see that bus schedule.
Here's a listing, here's a list of the route numbers on the back of this schedule.
A route is the streets that the bus drives.
In your city you will have buses that will always go down Main Street and then go down First Street and then cross over to Lincoln Avenue and so forth.
And they go back and forth along those same streets.
Each one of those routes is given in U.S. cities a number.
The numbers depend on the city you are in.
There isn't any consistent pattern across the United States.
Every city has its own bus system.
So the route number is the number of the bus that tells you where that bus goes.
And those are listed, those are printed on the back of the bus schedule.
Kurt says, This is somewhat obvious advice.
But Louisa isn't the brightest, smartest person in the world, it seems.
Louisa says, oh, I see.
That's great.
Tomorrow I want to arrive at the podcast museum at 10 am, 10 o'clock in the morning, when it opens.
The podcast museum is located in McQuillanville.
It's a museum with all the greatest podcasts represented.
I think we are in the podcast museum.
Louisa wants to go and see the museum and she wants to be there at 10 o'clock am or 10 o'clock in the morning.
Which bus will I have to take?
Kurt says, let me look at this bus schedule.
Again, this is something that Louisa could do if she were a little more intelligent.
Kurt says, that's simple.
All you have to do, the only thing you have to do, is find the stop closest to the museum.
Then look down the column to find the arrival time of 10 a.m. or before.
Let's stop there and go back.
A stop is a place where the bus stops for a short period of time to allow passengers to get off the bus and get on the bus.
In some cities, the buses will stop at any corner where there is a person standing wanting to take the bus.
But in most cities, you have to go to a place that has a sign that says bus stop.
And that is the only place you can get on or we would say catch the bus.
So Louisa has to look at a bus schedule.
The bus stops, usually the streets where the bus stops, are listed on the schedule.
She has to look down the column.
A column is information that is printed vertically, up and down, not horizontally, side to side.
A column is part of a table.
The up and down parts of the table are called columns.
The horizontal parts are called rows, R-O-W-S.
So Louisa has to look at the column for the bus that she is interested in to find the arrival time, the time the bus will get there.
She wants to get there before 10 a.m.
Then Kurt says she has to work backwards, to meaning solve her problem or answer her question by starting from the result and using logic to get back to the beginning.
So in this case she has to see what time the bus goes past the stop where she is going to get on her starting point.
A starting point is where someone or something begins.
Kurt then asks Luisa if she understands.
He says, got it?
Luisa says I think so, but I don't think there's a bus that goes directly from here, from where she is standing, to downtown.
Kurt says in that case, in that situation, it says on the schedule it is printed on the schedule that you'll need to get a transfer from the driver of the first bus so you can ride for free on the second bus.
Louisa wants a bus that goes directly from where she is to downtown.
Directly means going in as straight a line as possible between one point and the other without going to other places.
Kurt says that Louisa is going to have to get a transfer, which is a piece of paper that is given to a passenger by the bus driver.
It allows the passenger to get on another bus without having to pay again, usually for a certain number of hours, for two or three hours.
They can use this transfer to ride another bus without having to pay extra.
This allows people to take two or three buses without having to pay two or three times.
Kurt says, just take the additional time into account.
To take something into account.
A-C-C-O-U-N-T means to consider something, to include something as part of your thinking when you are making a decision.
In this case Louisa, has to take into account the extra or additional time it will take to get on one bus, get off and then transfer or get on another bus.
He says mornings are peak times.
Peak, P-E-A-K, means when something is busiest. when it is most heavily used.
In many doctor's offices, Monday morning is a peak time.
Everyone who was sick over the weekend comes to the doctor's office on Monday morning.
That's a peak time, a busy time.
Kurt says, according to this schedule the buses run more frequently in the mornings.
They run more often to accommodate, to help commuters.
A commuter C-O-M-M-U-T-E-R is someone who travels, usually a long distance between their house and where they work.
That's a commuter.
When I used to work at the university, I was a commuter.
I would have to drive 45 minutes to an hour from my house to the university and then, of course, to get back to my house, it was another 45 minutes to an hour.
That's what a commuter does.
Kurt says it shouldn't take you a lot longer in the morning because there are more buses in the morning.
Kurt says, the schedule says that you'll need to have a bus pass or exact change for the fare when you board.
A bus pass is... is a small card, typically, that you buy.
It allows you to ride the bus either a certain number of times, 10 times, 20 times, or often it's for an entire month or an entire week.
You can use it as much as you want during that time.
Exact change means the coins or paper money that equals the price or the cost of something, so that the person is not going to get any money back.
So if you're buying something for $1.50 and you give someone $2, that is not exact change.
Exact change would be $1.50.
The bus drivers in the U.S. don't give you change.
You have to have the exact amount of money.
If you pay more money, you will not get that extra money back.
The fare, F-A-R-E, is the cost of taking some form of transportation, such as a bus or an airplane.
We call the price you pay for your airplane ticket your airfare.
That's the same idea.
He says you'll need exact change for the fare when you board.
To board, B-O-A-R-D, as a verb, means to get on the bus or get on the train.
We also use it for a boat or a plane.
The plane is now boarding.
People are getting onto it.
Both the word board and peak that we mentioned earlier have different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Louisa says, thanks a lot for all the help.
Do you know how much the fare is?
She wants to know the price of getting on the bus.
Kurt says, I have no idea.
Notice, ridden is the past participle of to ride.
Luisa says, Kurt answers, I can read.
He knows about the bus because he can read and he read the bus schedule, something that we hope Louisa will be able to do someday.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
This was my first visit to McQuillanville.
I wanted to avoid driving, so I decided to take the bus around the city.
However, I was having some trouble figuring out the bus schedule.
Excuse me, could you help me read this bus schedule?
I can try.
Where do you want to go?
I want to go downtown, but I'm not sure which bus to take.
Let me see that bus schedule.
Here's a listing of the route numbers on the back of this schedule.
Look for a bus that goes downtown.
Oh, I see.
That's great.
Tomorrow, I want to arrive at the podcast museum at 10 a.m. when it opens.
Which bus will I have to take?
Let me look at this bus schedule.
That's simple.
All you have to do is find the stop closest to the museum, then look down the column to find the arrival time of 10 am or before and work backwards to see what time that bus passes the stop at your starting point.
Got it?
I think so, but I don't think there's a bus that goes directly from here to downtown.
In that case it says on the schedule that you'll need to get a transfer from the driver of the first bus so you can ride for free on the second bus.
Just take the additional time into account.
Mornings are peak times and, according to this schedule, the buses run more frequently to accommodate commuters, so it shouldn't take you a lot longer.
It also says here that you'll need to have a bus pass or exact change for the fare when you board.
Thanks a lot for all the help.
Do you know how much the fare is?
I have no idea.
I've never ridden the bus before in McQuillanville.
Then how do you know so much about riding the bus?
I can read.
My starting point for every podcast is the wonderful scripts that are written by our own Dr, Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
