The man walks down the road for half an hour at an average speed of 3 miles per hour. This means he covers a distance of (3 miles per hour) * (0.5 hours) = 1.5 miles during his walk.
He waits 10 minutes for a bus, which takes him back to his starting point at 3:15. This means the bus ride took 3:15 - 2:25 = 50 minutes.
We know that during this 50-minute bus ride, the man traveled 1.5 miles.
Now, let's calculate the average speed of the bus. We'll convert the time to hours:
50 minutes = 50/60 hours = 5/6 hours
Average speed of the bus = Distance / Time = 1.5 miles / (5/6 hours)
To divide by a fraction, we can multiply by its reciprocal:
Average speed of the bus = 1.5 miles * (6/5) hours = 9 miles per hour
So, the average speed of the bus is 9 miles per hour.
The correct answer is 9 mph.