PART I: WRITTEN RECEPTION (70 points)

(ACCESS TO INFORMATION FROM WRITTEN TEXTS)

Read the text below and then answer questions 1–9.

FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN FRANCE

I In September 2018, the French city of Dunkirk made its public transportation free. Since then,
the 200,000 residents of the city no longer have to pay to use any of the local buses. The idea of free
travel has already been tried in several small towns in France, but Dunkirk is so far the largest city
to do it.
5 II Dunkirk's mayor said that one reason for this step is to reduce
pollution by encouraging the use of public buses instead of private
cars. A year after free transportation began, researchers found that the
number of bus passengers had increased by 65% on weekdays and
by more than 100% during weekends. Almost half of the new bus
10 users said they had stopped using their cars inside the city and 10%
got rid of their cars. "It is clearly very successful in Dunkirk," says
Professor Lefèvre, one of the researchers. "This proves that the idea
of free public transportation might work in even larger cities, too."
III However, not everyone agrees that major cities like Paris or Marseilles, for example, could
15 successfully copy Dunkirk's free transportation model. Those against the idea claim that this model
is more effective in a relatively small city which doesn't have many buses. Research shows that free
transportation in Paris would lead to almost no increase in the number of bus passengers. There would
also be only a very small decrease in the use of cars. In major cities, free travel would also cost the
government a great deal of money.
20 IV Supporters of free transportation everywhere argue that the climate crisis has made it more
important than ever to reduce the use of private cars. Since private cars are a major cause of pollution
and the levels of pollution in the big cities are dangerously high, free transportation is a public health
issue as well. The supporters also claim that people have the right to free public transportation.
The government should pay for it just like it pays for schools, parks and playgrounds.
25 V In the future, will everyone be able to travel for free in France? So far, French leaders have not
made a decision. Hopefully, soon they will find a way to try free public transportation in more cities.

<small>[בטופס המקורי יש תמונה ליד הקטע: «Public transportation on a busy street in Europe — by Oleg Magni, Pexels 1837595»]</small>

<u>QUESTIONS</u> (70 points)
Answer questions 1–9 in <u>English</u> according to the text. In questions 1, 3, 5 and 8, circle the number of the correct answer. In the other questions, follow the instructions.