English Language 2

May 6-8, 2010

DESIRED CHARACTERISTICS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEMS

The main competition to public transport for all three types of travel (urban, inter-urban, rural) is the
private car. Hence if public transport usage is to increase, then it must have some operational
characteristics which give it advantage over the car in the particular situation in which it is to be
introduced or improved. In brief, the desirable characteristics can be summarised as:

Convenience:
- The service needs to go to the destination(s) that travellers wish to reach, preferably without the
need to interchange.
- The service frequency must be high enough to ensure that wait times are acceptably short.
- The service must be reliable, i.e. the scheduled arrival times must be consistently maintained.
- The door-to-door journey time must be comparable / competitive with that of the car.
- The public transport vehicle must be comfortable, with adequate seating for those who need it
and acceptable standing passenger densities during peak periods.
- The vehicle must be clean and easily accessible for all members of the travelling public,
especially elderly and disabled people.
- Stations/stops should be well designed, have good waiting facilities, be protected from the
weather, within easy walking distance for most potential users, and provided with feeder or park-
and-ride facilities if necessary.
- Any interchanging should be undertaken without the necessity of having to change level (i.e. no
steps) and should involve short distances.
- Pedestrian access routes to stations/stops should be attractive, well lit and well maintained.

Image
In the view of many people public transport, especially the bus, has an old-fashioned, run-down
image. This needs to be reversed, and improvements in the following aspects would go some way
to doing this:
- seat comfort, the amount of leg room, and the noise level within the vehicle,
- quality of ride and smoothness of acceleration and deceleration,
- the design of the vehicle to give the impression that it is part of a modern, well-run service,
- overall impression created by the design and upkeep of the station/stops, which should be clean
and free of damage and graffiti,
- attitude and helpfulness of the staff.

Information
This is of vital importance if the system is to be perceived as being user friendly. There are
several significant aspects:
- Details of service frequencies, times and fares (by route) should be readily available, clearly
presented, and kept up-to-date.
- "Real-time" information should be available at stations/stops, giving current information on actual
running times and the time of arrival of the next vehicle.
- Details of any pre-booking arrangements should be clearly presented.

Security
- All travellers should feel safe when using public transport. This problem is accentuated by the fact
that many stations, and all bus stops, are not staffed.
- Public transport facilities, including access routes, should be well lit and continually monitored
by closed circuit TV (CCTV) to help reduce the risk of personal attack, and at the same time to
induce the feeling of being safe in the mind of the traveller.

1
NOTE: VOCABULARY
Safety
noun, means protection from harm or the risk of injury. "Safety" is often used to modify a noun, such as
"safety belt" and "safety valve". "Safety" also means the state of not being dangerous (The new safety
guidelines will improve the company's record.)
Security
noun, means the state of being or feeling free from danger or a threat (In times of high unemployment, job
security is vital."). For a company or state, "security" is a matter of protection against espionage, terrorism
and theft. Policies about "security" in a company are often stipulated in "security regulations". "Security" is
also an item of value that acts as a guarantee when applying for some types of financial loan. If something of
value is not available to back the loan, then it is termed an "unsecured loan". In the plural, "securities" means
stocks and bonds.

MODAL VERBS (revision for more detail consult a grammar book)

Modal verbs are a special kind of auxiliary verb. Like other auxiliary verbs, they are always used with a main
verb but modal verbs express an attitude to what is said. They can express how certain or uncertain we are
about an event, or how willing or unwilling we are to do something, for example. They can express ability,
willingness, obligation, possibility, certainty, and so on.

Modal verbs in English are:

can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must, ought to
need, dare, used to are semi-modals since they exist both as ordinary verbs and as modal
auxiliary verbs

What are the rules?

1. They dont take s in the third person singular.
She can do it. The plane might land in an hour.
2. They form questions, negatives, question tags, and short answers without using be, have, do.
Must you go? I cant stay. Yes, you can.
4. After modals, we use the bare infinitive (the infinitive without to).
I must tell them the news. / It might be hot tomorrow. / You should have a rest.
Ought to is an exception.
5. They do not have these forms: infinitives, present participles, past participles.
6. They have contracted negative forms: cant, mustnt, wont, shouldnt
7. The contraction maynt is almost never used may not is preferred.
9. Will and would have contracted affirmative forms: ll, d.

Note:
1. To ask for or to give permission, we use can, may or could.
Can I use your mobile phone? May I see whats in your luggage? Im afraid you cant.
2. To indicate obligation, we use must or have to.
Protective clothing must be worn.
I have to change planes in Vienna.
If something was necessary or obligatory in the past we use had to, and in the future will have to.
Due to fog, we had to land in Pula.
We will have to screen the luggage again.
3. When we impose the obligation on ourselves, we tend to use must, and have to when the obligation
is imposed by others or by external circumstances.
I really must remember to phone home.
We have to be at the check-in by 9 oclock in the morning.
4. The absence of obligation is expressed by dont have to.
She works from home so she doesnt have to commute.
5. For advice and suggestions we use should and ought to.
Do you think we ought to take a taxi to the airport?
You really should relax if the flight takes more than eight hours.
6. To express the idea that something is prohibited, we use must not or cannot.
Passengers must not use their mobile phones on the plane.
You cannot import goods without a licence.
7. If we have present evidence with which to make a deduction, we use must or cant.

2
 You must be very tired after such a long journey.
That cant be Ms. Taylor at the gate. She is in Texas.

To make deductions about the past, we use must have or cant have.
Their journey home must have been awful: they flew through a storm over Paris.
She cant have forgotten I got her to repeat the instructions three times.

If we are less sure of our deduction, we use could, may or might.

I havent seen him he could have gone to the wrong gate, or I suppose he might have gone to the
toilet.

Need is used as a modal auxiliary mainly in questions and negative statements in the present tense to
express lack of necessity and in the expression neednt have done.
Need you ask?
You neednt shout, we can hear you loud and clear.

Didnt need to vs. neednt have done: didnt need to is used when something wasnt necessary so it wasnt
done, while neednt have is used when something was done even though it turned out to be unnecessary.
He didnt need to go to court because the case was dismissed.
I neednt have dressed smartly. When I got there, everyone was in jeans.

Modals can be used with reference to events or states of likelihood that we cant control.

1. With reference to possibility, we use can to say that something is possible and cannot if something is
impossible.
Travel can be really boring.
You cant judge a book by looking at its cover.

If a situation is possible but it is not certain that it will happen, we use could, may or might. (May suggests
that something is more likely than might.)
If we downsized we could save a lot of money.
I think you should weight the suitcase you may/might find its overweight.
We also use could if we want to say something was possible in the past.
Many years ago you could smoke on some flights.

2. Past opportunities which were missed are expressed using could have or might have and a past
participle.
They could have avoided overbooking the plane if they had not sold so many tickets.
She might have found the gun if she had searched him.

3. The following is a guide to how certain we feel when we use different modals:
100% certain - He will be there by now.
very certain He should be there by now.
pretty certain He may/could well be there by now.
not very certain He may/might be there by now.
impossible He cant/wont be there by now.

3
1. Supply the appropriate captions for the following groups of sentences:
DEDUCTION, NECESSITY, SUGGESTIONS, PERMISSION, POSSIBILITY,
OBLIGATION, ADVICE, OFFERS, REQUEST, ABILITY, CERTAINTY
He could read when he was four.
Will you be able to read this book in English?
You can phone Sally: shell be at home now.
The parcel may / might arrive tomorrow.
Stamps can be bought at most shops that sell cards.
Its 8.30, she may have left by now.
They are very late. I suppose they could have got lost.
The office is closed now so she cant be there.
Barbara is back at work. She must be feeling better.
Its very wet outside so it must have rained in the night.
We should be leaving soon.
You must come and visit us.
You shouldnt take any notice of him. He always upsets you.
Passengers must fasten their seat belts.
We have to get there before 8 oclock.
(negative) You mustnt use your mobile phones during flight.
You neednt stand up if you dont want to.
Need I turn off my mobile phone?
Can I / Shall I / Would you like me to help you?
Could you open the door for me, please?
(give) You can stay here if you want to.
(refuse) Im afraid you cant wait in here.
We could have a game of tennis this afternoon.
Shall we / We could / Would you like to

Use the following expressions in statements of your own to show that you understand their
meaning.
MUST + TAKE

ACTIVE PASSIVE
a) must take e) must be taken
b) must be taking
c) must have taken f) must have been taken
d) must have been taking

2. Match the sentences with a modal to the sentence with an adjective which has the same
meaning.
A Its impossible. B Its certain. C Its possible.

1. It will happen.
2. It might happen.
3. It wont happen.
4. It must be true.
5. It cant be true.
6. It may be true.
7. It might be true.
8. It could be true.

4
3. Match sentences with the same meaning (match numbers to letters)

1. I can't help you to find accommodation.

2. I don't have to help you to find accommodation.
3. I won't help you to find accommodation.

a) It's not my responsibility to help you.

b) I'm unwilling to help you.
c) I'm unable to help you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
4. She can't be joking. a) I'm sure she is.
5. She can't tell jokes b) I'm sure she isn't.
6. She must be joking. c) She isn't allowed to.
7. She mustn't tell jokes. d) She's no good at it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
8. You can't leave now.
9. You could leave now.
10. You don't have to leave now.
11. You needn't leave now.
12. You shouldn't leave now.
a) It's not a good idea to go.
b) I won't let you go.
c) It's unnecessary to go.
d) It would be possible to go.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
13. They wouldn't let me pay by credit card: they made me pay cash.
14. I took cash just in case, but they let me in for free.
15. I took my credit card, but they would only accept cash.
16. I didn't take any cash because I knew entry was free.

a) He should have taken cash.

b) He didn't need to take cash.
c) He needn't have taken cash.
d) He had to pay cash.

4. Fill the gaps in the text below with the following expressions (be careful there are more than you will
need):
longer, common, queuing, increases, transport, general, minor, in,
intersections, disorganized, reduces, shorter, traffic, organized, major, from vehicular

Organization

In many parts of the world __1__ is generally organized, flowing in lanes of travel for a particular direction,
with junctions, __2__, interchanges, traffic signals, or signs. Traffic may be separated into classes: __3__;
non-vehicular (e.g. bicycles); and pedestrian. Different classes may share speed limits and easement, or
may be segregated. Some countries may have very detailed and complex traffic laws while others rely on
drivers' __4__ sense and willingness to cooperate.

Organization typically __5__ travel time. Though vehicles wait at some intersections, wait time at others is
much __6__. An unexpected occurrence may cause traffic to degenerate into a __7__ mess: road
construction, accidents, or debris may all disrupt the flow. On particularly busy freeways, a __8__ disruption
may persist in a phenomenon known as traffic waves. A complete breakdown of organization may result
__9__ traffic jams and gridlock. Simulations of organized traffic frequently involve __10__ theory, stochastic
processes and equations of mathematical physics applied to traffic flow.