IELTS Speaking Common Topic: Public Transportation
IELTS Speaking Part 1 Public Transportation Questions:
Questions:
- What kind of public transportation do you usually take?
- When do you usually take public transportation – in your everyday life or when you are travelling?
- Do most people prefer public transportation in your country?
- Did you take public transportation when you were a kid?
IELTS Speaking Advice – Public Transportation
– In Q1, if you don’t use public transport, you can explain how you travel and get to work instead.
– In Q2, you can describe your daily commute or how you travel during holidays. If you used to use public transport, you could describe some of your past experiences using public transport and give reasons why you don’t use public transport anymore.
– In Q3, you can simply give an anecdotal perspective of how you, your friends or your colleagues use public transport, rather than trying to remember statistics about public transport usage (although that would be a nice feature to add to your answer!)
IELTS Speaking Vocabulary – Public Transportation
– Twofold
– Bogged down
– Run the gauntlet
– For ages
– Peace of mind
– Hustle and bustle
– Take a breather
– Squashed like sardines
– Look favourably on…
– Out of necessity
– Posse
– Maraud
– Odds and ends
IELTS Speaking Full Answers – Public Transportation:
Q: What kind of public transportation do you usually take?
A: These days I travel almost exclusively by train or subway. The reason for choosing trains and the subway over buses is twofold – reliability and comfort. The metro follows a timetable and, because the high-speed rail network is kept up well in China, you can count on the trains to get you from A to B quickly, without getting bogged down in traffic on the highway. Although buses are a bit cheaper, you run the gauntlet of getting stuck in traffic for ages if there is a lane closure due to an accident or roadworks. So, with the metro, you get a bit more peace of mind and that makes the whole journey less worrisome.
Q: When do you usually take public transportation – in your everyday life or when you are travelling?
A: I use public transport for my day-to-day travel as well as for travelling domestically during holidays, when I like to retreat to the countryside and take a breather from the hustle and bustle of Shanghai. First prize is to catch the 06:15 train because there’s a window of opportunity around that time to get a seat on the train, as opposed to standing. The station fills up exponentially for the 06:30 train and you can end up being squashed like sardines if you don’t arrive earlier. On the way back, I catch the 18:30 train, unless I’m heading out for drinks or to gym, in which case I catch one of the late trains.
Q: Do most people prefer public transportation in your country?
A: Well, it’s hard to say if people actually prefer public transport, or if it’s simply out of necessity due to the population density of large cities. Anecdotally, I’d say that the younger generations look favourably on public transport in general, while the older, more affluent families might be more inclined to travel in a private car, which is a bit of a status symbol. There are just so many people living in such a small area, I figure it’s only a tiny minority that has the luxury of having a preference between public transport and private transport.
Q: Did you take public transportation when you were a kid?
A: No, not unless I was travelling with my parents to visit family or on a weekend getaway. Our vehicle of choice was the bicycle – cheap to buy, free to use and easy to look after. Growing up, we had a posse of five and we used to maraud down to the park on weekends or to pick up odds and ends for our parents at the shops in our neighbourhood. So, it was only once I enrolled at university that I began using public transport.
