20.

Tétel - Transport - Közlekedés

• everyday transport

• public transport in the city

• intercity transport

• individual transport (cars, motorbikes, bicycles)

• public transport problems

• individual transport problems

everyday transport, public transport in the city, public transport problems

There are several ways of travelling. People can travel by bicycle, motorcycle, car, taxi, bus, tram,
trolleybus, underground, train, plane, ship, boat, hydroplane and so on.

In most big cities people have a wide choice of vehicles as public transport services consist of buses,
trams, suburban trains, and the underground system. Day by day the inhabitants have to travel to
and from work and school and most of them use the public transport network.

The fastest type is the underground because it isn’t influenced by weather or traffic conditions. In
Hungary you can find it only in the capital.

People travel by taxi when they are in a hurry, when they have much to carry or when they are in
unknown places. My parents sometimes take a taxi. You can call a taxi by phone or wave one down in
the street. There are also taxi ranks all over the city. You go by taxi if there is no public transport or it
isn’t operating because it’s too late.

Before getting on a vehicle I have to buy a ticket which is on sale at termini, major news-stands and
shops. But a lot of people have monthly season tickets. One ticket costs 200 forints. I don’t need to
pay for a ticket because I have a special card which means that I can travel on all kinds of public
transport free of charge. (I have this card because I suffer from celiac disease and this card is a social
benefit for me from the Hungarian state.) The public transport of Miskolc is operated by Miskolc
Városi Közlekedési Zrt. In Miskolc you can find 47 bus lines and 2 tram lines.

Unfortunately, the means of transport are usually crowded and slow, especially in the rush hours and
the roads are in an awful state of repair. Besides, buses and trams run very rarely in the evenings and
if you miss one, you have to wait for a long time, which can be very annoying, especially when it is
cold. So the introduction of higher frequency of some bus and tram routes is essential.

To tell the truth, I don’t often use public transport, thus I don’t have any favourite one. My mother
takes me to school in her car in the mornings and it takes us about 10 minutes to get there. In the
afternoons I use the bus to get home from school.

intercity transport (train, coach, plane)

If you want to travel outside the city you can use a coach, a train or a plane.

A lot of people are satisfied with railway services saying that carriages are comfortable because
during the journey you can take a walk down the carriages, so it’s possible to stretch your muscles.
Besides, there are cheap fares on trains. In Hungary there are different kinds of trains: express trains,
fast and slow passenger trains. IC trains are popular nowadays because the train goes directly to the
destination and rarely stops. On the other hand, others complain that the service is unreliable and
the trains don’t always run on schedule (menetrend szerint, pontosan) and they are crowded, stinky
and noisy. As for me, I hardly ever travel by train, perhaps once in a blue moon (nagyon ritkán). You
can buy railway tickets at the railway station and you can book InterCity tickets by phone as well.

Travelling by coach isn’t ideal for those who don’t want to be seated in one place for a longer period
of time because the seats are relatively small. In addition, road and weather conditions can increase
travel time. Besides, passengers are not allowed to take much luggage on board. On the other hand,
bus stations are usually found in city centres while train stations are mostly out of the city and you
have to travel some extra time in order to get to your destination.

As I see it, the safest form of transportation is the plane, because statistically, there are fewer
crashes than car accidents. I like flying and I have flown several times. I was 3 years old on my first
flight to Egypt. I think air travel is the quickest and the safest way of transport. Before boarding the
plane you have to check in. After that you go through passport control and the security check. Then
you go to the departure lounge where you wait before your plane is due to take off. After hearing
your flight announced you have to go to your gate and boarding begins.

Besides the lot of advantages, the major drawback of travelling by air is that flights are sometimes
delayed or even cancelled due to bad weather or service problems. In addition, most airlines limit the
size and weight of luggage that is allowed to be taken on board.

Due to globalisation of the market, it’s possible to find discount flights to almost everywhere. The
prices that low-cost airlines (fapados járatok) offer are sometimes amazingly low, especially when the
tickets are booked well in advance.

individual transport (cars, motorbikes, bicycles), individual transport problems

My favourite form of transport is the car because there are a number of advantages of travelling by
car. To start with, we can travel wherever we want and whenever we want without worrying about
the departure times and delays. Besides, we can drive from door to door. On the other hand, it’s
extremely expensive to own and maintain a car, thus, you have to pay a lot of money for the
convenience of having one.

But unfortunately, parking is getting more and more difficult nowadays because the number of cars
has increased dramatically.

Travelling more frequently by bike would be very important, because that would mean less air
pollution. Bicycles don’t require insurance or service fees, or fuel bills, in addition, a bike can be
parked anywhere. Moreover, cycling is healthy. But unfortunately, it would take me a lot of time to
get to my school by bike. I often cycle in the summer. Unfortunately, I have no time to do so during
the school year.

Motorbike is a great technology that is very common today. It is very fast source of travelling and it
isn’t very expensive. There are many advantages of motor bike, e.g. travelling by motor bike is very
easy and comfortable. There is no need to wait for bus or other travelling source. But there are many
disadvantages as well as. Mostly youngster use the motorbike in a wrong way. They drive motorbike
very rashly and they often break the traffic rules. They endanger not only their lives but also the life
of other drivers and pedestrians. Sometime dangerous accidents occur because people drive bikes in
heavy traffic in a ziz-zag way. They always show ill-discipline (fegyelmezetlenség), thus they also
cause accident.