Don't worry about the tube strike: Catching the bus is good for your health #CarryGobySeanKellz #FutureGroupNG via @myentertain9jar

LEAVE your car at home and stop battling your way down to the underground. Bus travel keeps you fit, helps you unwind and is good for the environment, according to Catch The Bus Week

Catching the bus can be good for your health, claims new study [GETTY]

Catch The Bus Week 2014, which runs from April 28 until May 4, is hoping to encourage commuters to leave their cars at home and travel more by bus.
The initiative, spearheaded by Greener Journeys, claims that travelling by bus is good for your health, your mind and the environment.
It is vital that people incorporate regular physical activity into their everyday lives to help stop premature deaths, obesity and take the financial strain off the NHS.
44% of UK adult bus users say they use the walk to the bus stop as a way of getting regular exercise.
And, since nine out of 10 UK households are within a six-minute walk of a station, it's a great way to easily get fit.
One in 10 of bus users walk more than a mile to their bus stop – the equivalent of 10 miles every week.
Greener Journeys research found that the daily short walk to and from bus stop and destination can burn 22,630 calories a year, with daily bus users clocking up the annual equivalent of 11 marathons.
Both young and older people both use the bus to get exercise. 58% of 25-34 year olds said the bus made them feel fitter healthier, as did half of those aged 65 or over. 

Catch the Bus Week 2014 is a national celebration of the bus [GETTY]

Not only do our waistlines shrink and our fitness levels increase but if we travel by bus more our moods also heighten. 13% of people said that the bus helps them unwind after work, and one in three said it was relaxing and enjoyable to take the bus.
Young people also use the bus as a way to relax. More than a fifth of 25-34 year olds say taking the bus helps them unwind after work.
Catch the Bus Week 2014 is a national celebration of the bus, aiming to encourage people to make the switch from the car to the bus during the week.

 

Nearly 100 bus companies, passenger organisations and local authorities are running events, ticket giveaways and community engagement campaigns across the UK.
Claire Haigh, Chief Executive of Greener Journeys, says: “Buses are a vital lifeline for millions across the UK. From getting children to school, carrying people to work, the shops or to their local park buses join up the dots in our society and our economy.
“This week is a crucial springboard for greater attention to the whole host of ways that the bus benefits Britain, from how it helps people fit vital physical activity into hectic lives to how it helps cut clogging congestion that damages local economies."
See catchthebusweek.co.uk.