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I was reading some analyses of Speed and I have an alternate view of its structure. The analyses state that Speed has a muddled climax because the bus is on a Timelock, but the final showdown between Jack and Payne is an Optionlock after the Timelock is done away with. The goal according to this analysis is to rescue the passangers and stop the bomber. I see the structure as ending with the bus blowing up--making the goal of the story simply to rescue the passengers--and the final showdown as a short tale tacked onto the end. The reason for this is the bus story is the one presented in the trailers, and even implied by the title. Who even remembers what happens after the bus? I have vague recollections of a train, but I could be confusing the movie with Silver Streak for all I know!

Of course, this is still a problem, because the story is essentially over and you still have quite a bit of movie left. Essentially from this perspective, the elevator scene at the beginning (I had Wikipedia's help in remembering this part) and the showdown at the end are merely framing for the real story, the one about the bus.