How a City Moves

Every task opens with a signal icon and a colour-coded box — you know what to do before you read a word.

Story · ≈5 minThe Cake on the Top Deck

3Listen to the whole story first — just listen, eyes on the script if you like.Ouça a história inteira primeiro — apenas ouça.LISTEN

Audio in production — the player will sit here. For now, read the script out loud.

I listened to the story.

The script — word for word

705 spoken words · 140 wpm

[MUSIC: theme, 4 seconds, under]

NILA(bright) Tom, you have told me bus stories since the first day we worked together.

TOM(dry) That is because I drove them for thirty-four years, and a driver sees everything.

NILAThen give us the best one you have got. Give us the story about the wedding cake.

TOM(warm, settling in) I started on the buses in 1981, on the number 38, when I was twenty-two years old. Before that I had never driven anything longer than my father's little grey van. Since then I have driven most of the routes in north London, but the 38 has always been mine.

NILA(amused) He says "mine", as though Transport for London had signed the road over to him.

TOMThey should have done. (beat) Now, this happened on a very hot Saturday in June 1994. I set off from the terminus at half past seven, with the sun already on the windscreen.

NILASaturdays must be quieter than the working week, surely, with no proper rush hour to deal with.

TOMQuieter at first, but by nine o'clock the bus was crowded and the top deck was packed like sardines.

NILAPacked like sardines. Unpack that one for anybody who has never met the phrase before.

TOMSardines are small fish, and they come in a flat tin, squeezed side by side with no room at all. That is a London bus on a warm Saturday morning, and no other phrase fits it properly.

TOMA young woman got on at Islington carrying a white box that was almost as wide as she was. She tapped in, thanked me twice, and carried the box up to the top deck, which was her mistake.

TOMI have seen umbrellas, laptops, a guitar and, on one memorable Tuesday, a set of false teeth. Lost property at Baker Street has seen everything a person can carry and then forget.

TOMShe got off near Piccadilly in a terrible hurry, and the box stayed exactly where she had put it. I found it at the terminus at the end of the trip, so I carried it downstairs and lifted the lid. Inside there was a wedding cake, three tiers high, with white icing and little silver flowers.

TOMI rang the depot straight away, and they told me to hand it in to lost property on the Monday. But a wedding cake is no use to anybody on a Monday, because somebody was marrying that afternoon. The whole thing came out of the blue, and I had about twenty minutes to make up my mind.

TOMThere was a bakery label on the box with an address written underneath it in blue biro. Saint Anne's church in Hackney, two o'clock. My mate Ray took the last two trips of my shift. I got a cab and I paid the fare myself, and that fare came to eleven pounds fifty. Eleven pounds fifty, in 1994, and it was worth every single penny of it.

[SFX: church bells, 3 seconds, under the next line]

TOMThe taxi pulled in outside Saint Anne's at ten to two, and I climbed out holding the box like a baby. A woman in a blue hat looked at me, then looked at the box, and then she screamed.

TOM(dry) With joy, Nila, let us be completely clear about that, because she was the bride's mother. Nobody had seen that cake since half past ten, and nobody had dared to tell the bride. Somebody took a photograph of me standing beside that cake in my London Transport uniform.

[PAUSE: 2 seconds]

NILA(warm) Please tell me you have still got that photograph.

TOMIt has been on my kitchen wall since 1994, and my grandchildren are convinced that I am famous.

TOM(chuckling) I have told that story a hundred times and it still gets a laugh in the pub. The job has changed since then, mind you, because the buses stopped taking cash in 2014. Now everybody taps in with a card or a phone, and nobody stands there hunting for change. I miss the passengers, and I have never once missed a wet Monday morning in December.

NILA(softly) Did you ever hear anything from the young woman with the box?

TOMShe wrote two lines to the depot, and they pinned her letter up in the canteen. "Thank you to the driver who saved my sister's wedding." I have kept that letter ever since.

[MUSIC: theme, 5 seconds, up and out]

4After you listen: answer about the story.Depois de ouvir: responda sobre a história.ANSWER

1. Why does Tom call the number 38 “mine”?

2. What was inside the white box?

3. How did Tom get the cake to the church in time?

5Listen again: put the story in order — tap the events 1 → 4.Ouça de novo: coloque a história em ordem — toque nos eventos de 1 a 4.LISTEN

Culture File · ≈5 minHow a City Moves

7Listen to the Culture File first — catch the facts, the numbers and the misconception.Ouça o Culture File primeiro — capture os fatos, os números e o equívoco.LISTEN

Audio in production — the player will sit here. For now, read the script out loud.

I listened to the Culture File.

The script — word for word

704 spoken words

[MUSIC: theme, 4 seconds, under]

NILA(quick, warm) This is the Culture File, and Tom has just told you about a bus, a cake and a church. Now let us look at how this city actually moves its people around.

NILAI have brought five facts. Fact one is that the London Underground is the oldest in the world. The first section opened on the tenth of January 1863, and it was called the Metropolitan Railway.

TOMEighteen sixty-three is before the motor car, so how on earth did they pull the trains along?

NILASteam engines pulled them, through wooden carriages that were lit by gas lamps and full of smoke. Passengers came up onto the street coughing, and the line was crowded from the very first week. Today there are eleven lines and two hundred and seventy-two stations. Two hundred and seventy-two.

TOMAnd yet the thing is not really underground at all, whatever the name on the station says.

NILAOnly about forty-five per cent of the network runs below the surface, which is less than half. Out in the suburbs the trains run in daylight, past back gardens, allotments and school playing fields.

TOMThat is quite true. I can watch the Central line go past from my own kitchen window.

NILAFact two is one that Tom will enjoy, because the buses carry far more passengers than the Tube does. In 2023 and 2024 there were about 1.87 billion journeys on London buses and 1.18 billion on the Underground. One point eight seven billion on the buses, and one point one eight billion on the Tube.

TOMIn a nutshell, the bus does the heavy lifting and the Tube gets all the credit.

NILAThat brings me to the misconception, and it is a big one among visitors. The Tube is the famous part, but the bus network is the real workhorse of the city. If you only ever travel underground, you will learn London as a map rather than as a living place.

NILAFact three. London buses stopped taking cash in July 2014, so nobody pays the driver any more. You tap in with a bank card, a phone or an Oyster card on the yellow reader beside the door. A single bus fare costs one pound seventy-five, whatever distance you happen to travel that day.

TOMOne pound seventy-five, flat. And that price has stayed the same for a while now, has it not?

NILAIt is frozen until the first of November 2026, when it rises to one pound eighty-five. The daily limit for buses and trams goes up that day, from five pounds twenty-five to five pounds fifty-five.

TOMTell them about the Hopper fare, because most visitors have never even heard of it.

NILAOnce you have paid for one bus, you can change onto other buses or trams free for a whole hour. One payment, sixty minutes, and as many changes as your particular journey happens to need.

TOMWhich is how I reach my sister's house on two buses while paying only a single fare.

NILAFact four. The newest line is the Elizabeth line, which opened on the twenty-fourth of May 2022. It has already become the busiest single railway line in the whole of the United Kingdom. It carries up to eight hundred thousand journeys a day, on wide platforms with air conditioning.

TOMEight hundred thousand. Purple, very smooth, and slightly too clean for my personal taste.

NILA(grinning) Fact five. Since 2016, five Tube lines have run all night at weekends. They are the Victoria, the Central, the Jubilee, the Northern and the Piccadilly.

NILASo the honest picture is this. A London commute is almost never one single system. It is buses, trains, bikes and walking, and in the morning rush hour most people use at least two.

TOMAnd when something breaks down you take a long detour and you complain about it all week.

NILA(laughing) That is also part of the system. Right, here is your Talking Point for this unit. [TALKING POINT]

NILAHow do you travel to work or to school, and how long does that journey usually take you?

[PAUSE: 5 seconds]

NILANow say it again, and add one thing you would change about that journey.

[PAUSE: 5 seconds]

TOMMine takes four minutes, because I walk to the corner and back again.

NILA(laughing) Show-off. That is the Culture File.

[MUSIC: theme, 5 seconds, up and out]

8Listen and tick each fact when Nila or Tom says it.Ouça e marque cada fato quando Nila ou Tom o disser.LISTEN

The London Underground is the oldest in the world (1863) The buses carry far more passengers than the Tube London buses stopped taking cash in July 2014 The Hopper fare: one payment, then free bus changes for an hour Since 2016, five Tube lines have run all night at weekends

0 / 5

9Numbers catch — exam skill! Type the number you hear (digits are fine). Listening Part 3 asks for exact-word transcription just like this.Caça-números — habilidade de prova! Digite o número que você ouvir (algarismos valem).LISTEN

1. The first section of the Underground opened in ______.

2. Today there are eleven lines and ______ stations.

3. A single bus fare costs £______.

4. The Elizabeth line opened in ______.

10The Talking Point: “How do you travel to work or to school, and how long does that journey usually take you?” Answer — then say it again and add one thing you would change about that journey. Record yourself and listen back.O Talking Point: como você vai ao trabalho ou à escola? Responda, depois acrescente uma coisa que você mudaria — grave-se e ouça.SPEAK

I spoke my Talking Point answer out loud — both versions.

11The unit’s full word set, face down. Reveal them one by one, in order — say each one with its example before opening the next.O conjunto completo de palavras, viradas para baixo. Revele uma por uma, em ordem.WORDS

1Press to revealcommuteA London commute is almost never one single system.

2Press to revealrush hourIn the morning rush hour most people use at least two systems.

3Press to revealfareTom paid the fare himself — eleven pounds fifty.

4Press to revealtop deckShe carried the box up to the top deck.

5Press to revealterminusHe set off from the terminus at half past seven.

6Press to revealget on / get offA young woman got on at Islington; she got off near Piccadilly.

7Press to revealset offI set off with the sun already on the windscreen.

8Press to revealpull inThe taxi pulled in outside Saint Anne's at ten to two.

9Press to revealtap inYou tap in with a card, a phone or an Oyster card.

10Press to reveallost propertyLost property at Baker Street has seen everything.

11Press to revealdetourYou take a long detour and complain about it all week.

12Press to revealshiftMy mate Ray took the last two trips of my shift.

13Press to revealdepotI rang the depot straight away.

14Press to revealcrowdedBy nine o'clock the bus was crowded.

15Press to revealplatformWide platforms with air conditioning.

16Press to revealrouteSince then I have driven most of the routes in north London.

17Press to revealsingle (fare)A single bus fare costs one pound seventy-five.

18Press to revealpacked like sardinesSqueezed side by side with no room at all — Tom unpacks this one.