Timetable Reading Worksheet Generator

What this generator does

Builds each timetable from a first departure, a gap between services and a running time between each pair of stops, so every service takes the same time between the same stops unless it skips one. The four answers are then worked out again from the printed times alone, reading the cells as text and skipping dashes, and a question is kept only if it has exactly one answer there.

How to use this tool

1. Choose bus or train, a level and how many timetables.
2. Press Make the sheet, then Show the answers to check.
3. Print the questions and the answers, or type a sheet code to make the same sheet again.

Understanding the controls

Timetable

Bus stops or railway stations. The place names are made up.

Level

Gentle has 4 stops, 4 services and short running times; standard has 5 or 6 stops and 5 or 6 services; stretch has up to 7 of each, longer gaps, and every second service skips one stop.

How many timetables

1 to 3, with four questions each; each timetable prints on its own page.

Sheet code

Leave empty for a fresh sheet from the browser's secure generator; with a code, the same code and settings make the same sheet again while the generator is unchanged.

Worked examples

Code harbour, bus, standard, 1 timetable

The 06:20 bus from Bus Station reaches Hospital at 07:11. To be at Hospital by 08:10, the latest bus is the 07:00 (it arrives at 07:51; the 07:40 arrives at 08:31).

Same sheet, waiting question

At Market Square at 07:16, the buses before and after call at 07:11 and 07:51, so the wait is 35 minutes.

Common use cases

• Practising the 24-hour clock with a real-looking table
• Time-difference questions that need counting across the hour
• Planning-a-journey questions before a school trip

How this generator works

A service's time at a stop is its departure plus the running times to that stop. The latest-service question sets a deadline between two arrivals at the last stop, so exactly one service is the latest that makes it. The waiting question chooses a time between two services at a stop the services both call at. The check parses every printed cell as hours and minutes, ignores the dashes, and recomputes each answer; it also confirms the times rise along every service.

Randomness and fairness

Times and question choices come from the browser's secure generator, or a seeded one when you type a code. A code repeats a sheet while the generator is unchanged. Codes are deterministic, not cryptographic, and not a secret.

For how randomness is produced across the whole site, see how Generate Random works.

Assumptions this tool makes

• Services run to time, and a time in the table is when the service is at that stop.
• The first service leaves between 06:00 and 09:00, and every time falls on the same day.

Limitations and good to know

• Times are on the 24-hour clock only; there is no a.m./p.m. version.
• Services run in one direction, and none overtakes another.
• The timetables are invented and are not real routes.

Common mistakes

Subtracting times as if they were decimals

From 08:51 to 09:04 is 9 minutes to the hour and 4 after: 13 minutes, not 53.

Reading a dash as the next time along

A dash means that service does not stop there; look at the stops it does call at.

Choosing the first service that arrives in time

The latest one you can catch is the last service whose arrival is still on or before the deadline.

Privacy and your data

Timetables are built in your browser. With analytics consent, a count records how many timetables a sheet had; the times, questions and any code are not sent.