Inside Reading 1 Video Transcripts

Unit 1

London Bike Scheme transcript

Broadcaster/Speaker 1: Bringing peddle power to the people. Six thousand bikes are
going to be available at 400 docking stations1 across central London. So how does it
work? Now people will be able to turn up2, put their credit card into that terminal at the
end there and get access to the bikes that way but at the moment the scheme3 is
members only and members get one of these keys; this key goes into the slot there,
when the light turns green they can take the bike away.

And at the end of your ride the bike simply goes back in any docking station and you
walk away. You wouldn't expect to take one of these bikes and hold onto it for a whole
day, what we'd like is much like if you'd ever get a taxi you take the taxi, you take it from
A to B, you get out and you hope that meter stops. It's very much similar with these
bikes, they'll be over 400 docking stations when the scheme's fully up and running so
you should never be more than 300 meters away from a docking point and be able to
put the bike away and come back and pick it up whenever you want it again.

So how much is it...well 24 hours of access is a pound4 whereas a year's membership

cost 45 pounds, you can make as many journeys as you like for that as long as they're
less than half an hour but longer journeys cost more and don't leave it anywhere. If it
gets stolen, you'll be charged 300 pounds. But will it work? Well a similar scheme in
Paris had a lot of trouble with bikes being stolen but London says it's learned from those
mistakes, its bikes don't have locks so people have to leave them at the secure docking
points.

Now the bikes aren't particularly flash5, they're not particularly fast but that's because
they're not designed to be, they're built to be practical and so they've got a number of
features6 with that in mind. For example they've got a full chain guard and a full mud
guard to stop you getting dirt all over your clothes, they've got an adjustable7 height
seat so that's easy for people of all sizes and they've got lights built in and a luggage rack
as well for your bag. With all that in mind they're built for short journeys around town,
not long distance commutes.
1
docking station: a piece of equipment that bikes can be attached to securely
2
turn up: to arrive at a place
3
scheme: a system for organizing or arranging things
4
pound: the unit of money in the U.K. and several other countries
5
flash: (slang) attracting attention by being bright, expensive, large, etc.
6
features: things that are interesting or important about a place or thing
7
adjustable: can be moved into different positions to change shape or size
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Its success though hinges8 on what people think.

Speaker 2: The next time we're back I can see jumping on these, you know at a
moment's notice and being able to kind of go where we need to go real quick.

Speaker 3: It would just be a nightmare with the buses and all the traffic, I'd be too
scared.

Broadcaster: There will be teething troubles9 because it's not clear what the demand
will be, some racks could be permanently empty whilst others stay full. So there'll be a
team of people driving around repositioning the bikes.

8
hinges: depends
9
teething troubles: metaphor suggesting that the program may have small difficulties when it first starts.
©Oxford University Press. Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use.