London Buses

1. LONDON BUSES

2. London Buses Are Red

• There are 20,000
buses in London.

3.

Like Big Ben,
Buckingham Palace
and the red telephone
box, the red
Routemaster bus has
become a symbol of
London.

4.

They first arrived on
London’s street in
1959 to replace the
trolleybuses, which
were powered like a
tram – by overhead
electric cables.

5.

• As well as London’s
regular bus
services, there are
special doubledecker buses, some
with open tops,
which take visitors
or sightseeing tours
of London’s famous
landmarks and
tourist attractions.

6. BUS STOPS

• Oxford Street
has more bus
stops than any
other street in
London.

7.

Bus stops are found
along all roads in
London.
The buses are
boarded from the
front.

8. TICKETS and TRAVELCARDS

Every day 4.5 million people go by bus in
London.
In the centre of London you must buy your
ticket before you get on the bus.
Londoners have got travelcards. With a
travelcard they can travel on buses.
To buy a weekly, monthly or yearly
travelcard, they need a photo.
Most Londoners don’t buy single or return
tickets.

9.

The bus adult single cash fare is ₤1.20
(children 40p) for any journey and with
Oyster card Pre Pay ₤1.00 Monday to
Friday between 06:30 & 09:30, at all
other times including public holidays
80p.
A one-day pass allowing unlimited
journey in Greater London area costs
₤3.00.
A seven-day pass costs ₤11.00.
(Price last updated November 2006)

10.

London’s doubledecker red buses are
famous.
Avoid travelling in the
rush hours between
about 08:00 – 09:30;
16:30 – 18:30.

11. THE LONDON BOROUGHTS

‘’London is not so much a city, as the world’s
biggest village.’’
G.K. CHESTERTON
Or if not a village, then 33 small cities,
each with their own governments, schools,
centers, suburbs, and proud sense of identity
and history.

12. LONDON BOROUGH MAP

Ask a Londoner where
they live, and nine times
out of ten will not say
‘London’, but
‘Harrow’,
‘Kensington’ or
‘Greenwich’…

13. YOU ARE IN LONDON

Take Bus # 1 for the
London Eye.
Take Bus # 88 for
Piccadilly Circus.
Take Bus # 42 for
Tower Bridge.
Take Bus # 11 for
Buckingham Palace,
to go to Victoria
station.

14. Read the dialogue and Act out with your partner. (The words “please” and “thank you” are not in a dialogue. Put them in the

correct places.)
Tourist: A one-day
travelcard to
London,________.
Travel assistant: That’s
£4.90 _________
Tourist: Here is £5,00.
Travel assistant: _______.
Here is your ticket and
change.
Tourist: __________.

15. Help the TOURIST !

There are many buses in
London. Match the bus
and its destination.

16. A SAD DAY for LONDONERS

Now today is a rather
sad day for one of
London’s old friends…
The famous red
London bus, officially
called The
Routemaster, is being
replaced by modern
buses.

17.

Frankly speaking, old
people, people with
buggies, disabled
people – it’s a real, real
problem. They find it
difficult to get onto the
bus – especially as the
platform is quite high
up off the ground.

18.

After today, there
will be a few
Routemasters on the
Heritage Routes –
special journeys that
will mostly be taken
by tourists.

19. A Vocabulary Quiz about Transport

A pilot flies a plane, a
captain sails a ship, but
what does a cabby drive?
A) a train; B) a bus;
C) a taxi
I hate travelling in
the________ when
everyone is going to
work, you can’t even get
a seat most days!
A) busy hour; B) rush hour
C) hurry hour; D) crowded
hour

20. LONDON’S TRANSPORT MUSEUM

You can learn about
200 years of transport
history in the capital and get
to grips with the oldest
public transport system in
the world.
Address: Covent Garden
Piazza
Phone: 020 7379 6344
Pricing: £5.95 Adults, £4,50
concessions, free under 16’s