Reading the Bus Schedule
Devon works the early shift at a bakery that starts at 6:00 a.m. He relies on one bus route. The schedule shows: a 5:05 a.m. bus that arrives downtown at 5:40, a 5:25 bus arriving 6:00, and a 5:45 bus arriving 6:20. From the downtown stop it is a 12-minute walk to the bakery. Devon must clock in by 6:00 and cannot be late; his supervisor has already warned him once. The 5:05 bus is usually on time. The 5:25 bus is often 5-10 minutes late because it passes the hospital during shift change. Devon also has to buy a transit pass on Monday morning, which takes about 5 minutes at the station kiosk, and the kiosk opens at 5:00 a.m.
1. Which bus should Devon plan to take, and how much buffer does he have?
Read the worked answer
Work backward from the 6:00 clock-in. The walk is 12 minutes, so he must reach the downtown stop by 5:48 at the latest.
Check each option by arrival. The 5:05 bus arrives 5:40; plus 12 minutes walking puts him at the bakery at 5:52 - 8 minutes early. The 5:25 bus arrives 6:00, which is already too late even before the walk, and it is often 5-10 minutes late, making it worse. The 5:45 bus arrives 6:20, far too late.
So the 5:05 bus is the only safe choice. Buffer: 8 minutes at the bakery. On Monday, add the 5-minute pass purchase. The kiosk opens at 5:00, and the bus leaves at 5:05, so buying the pass before boarding is risky. He should buy the pass on a prior day, or accept that Monday's 8-minute buffer shrinks to about 3 minutes if he buys it Monday. The judgment tested is combining arrival times, walking time, and a one-time errand rather than trusting the bus's departure time alone.
2. Devon's coworker says, 'Just take the 5:25, it's basically the same.' Using the schedule, explain why that advice is unsafe.
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The 5:25 bus arrives downtown at 6:00. The bakery clock-in is 6:00 and the walk is 12 minutes, so even a perfectly on-time 5:25 bus gets him to work at 6:12 - 12 minutes late. The coworker may be thinking only about departure times being close (5:05 vs. 5:25), not arrival plus walking time.
Add the reliability problem: the 5:25 bus often runs 5-10 minutes late near the hospital, so realistic arrival could be 6:05-6:10, pushing his start to 6:17-6:22. Given a prior warning, that risk is unacceptable.
The reasoning skill is separating 'close departure times' from 'does it actually get me there on time,' and using the stated reliability detail rather than assuming buses run exactly as scheduled.