Driving on your way to an exciting Vancouver Canucks game; who will win, Canucks, or Chicago? As you imagine how the game will play out, you drive over the new 10-lane Port Mann Bridge, 2,020 metres long, over top of the Fraser River. What you may not be aware of is that as you’re crossing the widest bridge in the world, you are being tolled by an electronic system. I, Jarrod Vanthournout, am here today to talk to you about the toll on the new Port Mann Bridge. First off, I will tell you about why they tolled a bridge that is part of highway 1, the Trans-Canada highway. I will then tell you the pros and cons about the toll. Next I will tell you about the pricing; this is where I will talk to you about the prices of the toll, as well as how you can get a discount. Lastly I share my opinion about the toll on the Port Mann Bridge.
First things first, why did they toll the Port Mann Bridge. If they hadn't I wouldn’t have a speech, would I? Well the thing is the project cost approximately 3 billion dollars! Now that’s a lot of money. They tolled the bridge so they could pay off this project. The question is, was it the right choice?
Now I will talk to about the pros and cons of this tolling system. Let’s start with the pros. A really good part of the toll is that instead of stopping traffic at a booth the vehicles are in constant movement without needing to stop or slow down. They do this by taking a picture of license plates, then billing the owner of it. Also the bridge is always being used; this means that the bridge will be paid off faster than less used bridges. Unfortunately nothing is perfect. One of the problems with the tolling system is that there are flaws; some vehicles have been paid in a different category during different trips over the Port Mann Bridge. Another problem with the bridge is the cost.
Speaking of cost, let’s get to the prices of the toll. The current prices of the toll are following: 1.50 for a car, 75 cents for a motorcycle, 3 dollars for a small truck, and 4.50 for a large truck. I would like to note that these prices for 1-way, not over and back. However this December the toll rates will double, making going over the bridge even more expensive. To keep this discount you can sign up for Treo. Another way to not need to pay the toll is to take public transit, such as the skytrain, or the bus.
So I’ve talked to you about the bridge, but I never told you my thoughts on it. I don’t think the Port Mann Bridge toll is a good thing. It’s on the trans-Canada highway, which is a highway that goes all across Canada. Also some people’s lines of work require them to go over the bridge, and they can’t take public transit because it’s for their job! Imagine a home care nurse going on the bus with her bag of tools. Even though I disagree with the Port Mann Bridge toll, I do support the idea of tolling other bridges. The difference is that the other bridges have other ways, as well as lower prices on the toll itself.
Today I have talked to about the Port Mann Bridge toll. I have told you about why they tolled the bridge, as well as the pros and cons of them doing so. Also I have spoken about the prices of the toll, a way to get a discount, and I’ve even shared my own opinion with you. I now invite you all to make your own opinions on the toll. Who knows, it might even be when you’re crossing the bridge to a Canucks game.
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2 comments:
Speech Response
Jarrod, your speech told me very clearly what your topic was about and you also gave lots of examples to support your topic. But as I was reading your speech, I kind of felt a little bit boring near the end because your speech had alot of only your topic information. It's not like my speech is any better, but maybe you should shorten your informations on your topic and why not add litte bits of comedy in the speech and also a story in your life that relates to the topic. Comedy makes the audience laugh and they feel more comfortable listening to your speech. Also, everyone loves listening to stories. If you put a story of your life that connects to your topic information, then your speech would go way smoother and the audience will want to pay more attention to your speech.
Also, I feel as if you are trying to make your speech too formal and logical. For an example, you have lots of "talk about" in your speech. Why not cutting those out and replace them with variety of interesting words that were explained in the speech video that we watched in our humanities class.
The speech that you wrote is very good because it has lots of informations about your topic. But you may want to take some of your informations out and replace them with stories or jokes because you want to make your audience get sucked in to your speech and listen.
Jun makes some interesting comments and observations about adding humour to a speech. However, humour is a challenge to deliver but it does not suit every speaker, topic, or audience. All things to review before adding humour.
Your feedback from Tuesday indicated that you were far too long- try combining sentences and eliminating some repetition. This is one place where, due to your two minute time limit, you may need to forgo some of the strategies used in debate/persuasive speech-eg," tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you've told them" might be too tight for the 2 min. If you revise, repost and re-title so you have a record of your drafts and changes.
I am looking forward to hearing the speech Friday!
PS jun-try not to be so self-deprecating. Or is this part of your sarcastic humorous side coming out?
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