Reading bus/train timetables to find departure and arrival times, calculate journey durations, and plan journeys.
Where your child meets this in real life: Planning bus journeys to school, train trips to Belfast or Dublin, or looking up cinema times
SEAGReady breaks read and use timetables into 3 steps, taught in order so each skill builds on the last.
Locate departure and arrival times in a timetable using row and column references
Extract departure and arrival times for a journey and calculate how long it takes
Choose appropriate services to meet time constraints and recognize when services don't stop at certain stations
Three free sample questions from our read and use timetables course. Every question comes with a full explanation, and hints that guide without giving the answer away.
Sean is looking at this bus timetable. What time does the 09:15 bus from Belfast arrive in Derry? | Belfast | Antrim | Dungiven | Derry | |---------|--------|----------|-------| | 07:30 | 08:00 | 08:45 | 09:45 | | 09:15 | 09:45 | 10:30 | 11:30 | | 11:00 | 11:30 | 12:15 | 13:15 |
Answer: A. 11:30
Step 1: Find the row where Belfast shows 09:15 (second row) Step 2: Stay in the same row and read across to the Derry column Step 3: The time in the Derry column is 11:30 The 09:15 bus from Belfast arrives in Derry at 11:30.
Stuck? Start here: First, find the row where Belfast shows 09:15
Aoife takes the bus from Derry to Belfast. The bus leaves Derry at 09:45 and arrives in Belfast at 11:20. How long is the journey?
Answer: A. 1 hour 35 minutes
Use the counting-on method: Step 1: From 09:45 to 10:00 = 15 minutes Step 2: From 10:00 to 11:00 = 1 hour Step 3: From 11:00 to 11:20 = 20 minutes Total: 15 min + 1 hour + 20 min = 1 hour 35 minutes
Stuck? Start here: Try counting on from 09:45 to the next hour (10:00) first
Sean needs to arrive in Belfast by 14:00 for a football match. Which is the latest bus he can catch from Armagh? | Armagh | Portadown | Belfast | |--------|-----------|--------| | 10:30 | 11:00 | 12:15 | | 11:45 | 12:15 | 13:30 | | 13:00 | 13:30 | 14:45 |
Answer: A. 11:45
Step 1: Check arrival times in Belfast: - 10:30 bus arrives 12:15 (before 14:00 - OK) - 11:45 bus arrives 13:30 (before 14:00 - OK) - 13:00 bus arrives 14:45 (after 14:00 - too late) Step 2: Of the buses that arrive on time (10:30 and 11:45), the 11:45 is the latest departure. Sean should catch the 11:45 bus.
Stuck? Start here: Check which buses arrive in Belfast before 14:00
This is the exact interactive worked example your child sees in SEAGReady. Step through it and watch the method build up.
Ciara is looking at the bus timetable to visit her granny in Derry.
What time does the 10:15 bus from Belfast arrive in Derry?
Step 1 of 4
Ciara is looking at the bus timetable to visit her granny in Derry.
What time does the 10:15 bus from Belfast arrive in Derry?
The 10:15 bus from Belfast arrives in Derry at 12:30.
The key insight: Timetables work like coordinates: find the row first, then read across!
Watch out: Reading 10:45 from the Antrim column. That's the wrong column. Always check you're reading from the destination column.
These are the misconceptions we see most often in read and use timetables, including the ones our practice questions are specifically designed to catch.
Struggling with read and use timetables? The real gap is often in one of these earlier topics.
SEAGReady finds the exact step where your child gets stuck, teaches it with worked examples like the one above, and brings it back for review so it sticks.