Day 8 Advent Calendar: Travel Options for Christmas Shopping

Your time or your money? Your choice...

Comparing Travel Options for Christmas Shopping Using Distance and Speed Formulae

Planning a Christmas shopping trip often means choosing the quickest or cheapest way to get into town.

Today we'll use distance, speed and time to compare two travel options and decide which is more practical.

You live 14 miles from the city centre.

Your options are either to take the bus or drive.

Bus speed: 20 miles per hour

Driving speed: 35 miles per hour

Parking charge if you drive: £6.50

Step 1: 

Work out the bus journey time

Time = distance ÷ speed

14 ÷ 20 = 0.7 hours

Convert to minutes: 0.7 × 60 = 42 minutes

If you need any resources to build this skill, drop me an email or leave a comment for FREE RESOURCES ON DISTANCE, SPEED AND TIME.

Step 2: 

Work out the driving journey time

Time = distance ÷ speed

14 ÷ 35 = 0.4 hours 0.4 × 60 = 24 minutes

Step 3: 

Compare the times

Bus: 42 minutes

Car: 24 minutes

The car is 18 minutes quicker.

Step 4: 

Consider the cost to make a fair comparison

Bus fare: £4.20 return

Parking if driving: £6.50

If fuel is ignored for simplicity, the bus is cheaper but slower.

If time is more important, driving is quicker but costs extra.

Skills that Count Check

Always calculate the time first before comparing options.

Use distance ÷ speed every time, then convert the decimal to minutes.

To decide which option is the better value, compare both time and cost, not just one.

Plan your own journey and explore the available options: bus, car, or train.

SHARE your results in the comments.

The Skills that Count

Many questions in Functional Skills look at decision-making.

Distance, speed and time calculation are just one area you need to build the Skills that Count.