One-hour or two-hour driving lessons? And where to meet

One-hour and two-hour driving lessons each have their place: one hour suits early lessons and learners who tire quickly, two hours suits longer routes, motorway or night driving and the final weeks before the test. Offer both as separate services, and decide where each length sits in your day so they don't overlap. Then settle the pick-up question: fixed meeting points keep your day predictable, home pick-ups are more convenient for learners but cost travel time. Whatever you choose, build that travel into your slots.

In a one-hour lesson, part of the time goes to getting the learner settled and reaching a useful area. With a two-hour lesson, that overhead is spread over more driving, which is why longer lessons make sense for routes that take time to reach, like motorways or unfamiliar towns. For a beginner, though, two hours of intense concentration can be too much. There's no single rule; it depends on the learner and what the lesson is for.

On Book, each type of lesson is a service with its own price and optional description, and you open slots for each at the length it takes. Create a one-hour driving lesson and a two-hour lesson, plus any specific formats you teach: assessment, refresher, motorway and night driving, mock test. The learner picks the lesson type, sees its price and length, and chooses one of its free slots.

Slots of different services can overlap, and one booking doesn't block another service's slot at the same time. If you open one-hour slots from 9:00 to 12:00 and two-hour slots over the same morning, two learners could book the same hour. Decide in advance where each length goes. A simple approach:

Repeat that pattern by weekday so you only set it up once, and adjust it when your mix of learners changes.

Where the lesson starts has as much effect on your day as how long it lasts. Picking a learner up at home, then dropping them at school or work, can be convenient for them, but every pick-up adds driving that isn't teaching. Fixed meeting points, like your office, a station or a car park, keep your timings reliable.

You can mix both. Say in each service's description where the lesson starts: "Lessons start and end at the office", or "Pick-up at home within the town centre". If you offer pick-ups in several areas, one option is a separate service for each area, opened on the days you teach there. That way, learners in the same part of town end up on the same days.

The booking form includes an optional note. Ask learners to write their pick-up address there if you offer pick-ups, so you have it in the booking.

If a lesson ends at one side of town at 10:00 and the next pick-up is fifteen minutes away, your 10:00 lesson will start late, and so will every lesson after it. You set the start and end of every slot, so leave the gap you need between lessons: a few minutes when everyone meets at the office, more when you pick learners up. A gap also gives you time to note the learner's progress before the next one gets in.

Learners who come once or twice a week keep a steadier rhythm when their lessons are planned ahead. At the end of each lesson, book their next ones yourself from your calendar, at the length and meeting point that fit. Each booked slot is removed from your page. If a learner needs to change, reschedule or cancel from your bookings list, and tell them yourself, since Book doesn't email the learner when you change a booking.