Hollis and Charmaine are curious about which mode of transportation gets them from their apartment to the mall faster. Hollis takes public transportation and gets to the mall in 18.5 minutes. Charmaine rides her bike and gets to the mall in 0.5 hours. The mall is 2.4 miles away from their apartment

In order to assess which method of transportation is faster, we will look at the time they take, since the distance is the same for both. In order to compare the times, we must make the units that they are both measured in consistent. We must either convert 18.5 minutes into hour or 0.5 hour into minutes. We will go with the latter as it is easier:

0.5 hours = 0.5 hours x 60 minutes per hour = 30 minutes

Therefore, the public transport takes them to the mall faster, since it takes only 18.5 minutes, than cycling to the mall does, which takes 30 minutes.