Reading & writing · Grades 7–9
The bus-route pilot
Read once, answer together, and check your reasoning.
The bus-route pilot
A town tests a later bus service on Fridays for six weeks. Average ridership is 26 per trip, but the first and last weeks include festivals. The transport team publishes both the average and each week’s count. It also reports costs and interviews workers who finish late. The team recommends a longer pilot before deciding whether to run the service every evening.
Try it yourself
Why show individual weekly counts as well as the average?
Why interview workers finishing late?
Why is a recommendation for every evening premature?
Name another useful variable for evaluating the pilot.
Check your understanding
Answers and marking notes
- The average can hide variation and the influence of festival weeks.
The average can hide variation and the influence of festival weeks.
- They are a relevant group whose access needs may not be fully captured by existing ridership.
They are a relevant group whose access needs may not be fully captured by existing ridership.
- Only Fridays over six weeks were tested, with unusual festival demand in two weeks.
Only Fridays over six weeks were tested, with unusual festival demand in two weeks.
- Accept operating cost per trip, capacity, punctuality, accessibility, unmet demand or non-festival usage.
Accept operating cost per trip, capacity, punctuality, accessibility, unmet demand or non-festival usage.
Learning preview · teacher review required. Grade bands are approximate, not official curriculum alignment.