80s Fitness Squad helps motivate commuters on Walk to Work Day

Commuters travelling between London Bridge station and The City on Thursday 24 April 2008 benefited from the motivation tactics of a squad of 1980s styled fitness instructors, who get very excited about commuters who walk to work.
The squad, organised by the charity Living Streets to celebrate Walk to Work Day 2008, made sure commuters realised that walking part or all of the daily commute is a great way to stay healthy and discover your city. And surprisingly, it’s sometimes the quickest way to get where you want to go - 109 tube stations in central London are faster to walk between than to travel by tube*.Tony Armstrong, Chief Executive of Living Streets said: "We’re facing an obesity epidemic in this country, but there is a free and easy way to exercise more: give yourself a daily dose of walking. If you walk as little as twenty minutes each day it will do wonders for your mental and physical health, and what better season to get out there than spring? Pledge to walk more at www.walkingworks.org.uk and we’ll help you do it!"Ben Plowden, Director of the Smarter Travel Unit at TfL said: "By working with Living Streets to encourage people to walk part or all of their daily commute, Transport for London hopes that even more people will discover that walking is a great way to get to work. Walking isn’t only the cheapest way to travel – it’s also enjoyable, fantastic exercise and often much quicker than people imagine."Walk to Work Day is part of the Walking Works campaign, which is funded in London by Transport for London. The campaign is urging commuters to walk some or all of the way to and from work, by trying the following:

• Join the London wide ‘Step into spring’ pedometer challenge that is taking place between Walk to Work Day (24 April 08) and National Walking Day (31 May 08)
• Think about how you can incorporate walking into your existing routine: could you go for a walk with friends at lunch time? Could you have walking meetings?
• List the hours you spend sitting down – think about how you can reduce them
• Set yourself a goal, and go for it!

Walk to Work Day events will be taking place in businesses all over London, including BSkyB's offices in West London where employees will be able to visit a Walk Doctor for a prescription on how to incorporate more walking into their daily lives. * Source – AIG for Transport for London, 2006- ENDS -Notes to editors

1. Visit www.walkingworks.org.uk for more information about walking to work, and to pledge to walk more.
2. The Walking Works campaign is funded in London by Transport for London.
3. Living Streets works to bring our streets to life, with more walking in people-friendly public spaces. We’re a national charity, set up in 1929 as the Pedestrians Association. We have 98 local groups and 1300 individual members working around the UK to improve local street environments for people on foot.
4. Living Streets also runs the UK Walk to School campaign (funded by the Department for Transport) which two million primary school children take part in every year.
5. As well as influencing policy on a national and local level, we also carry out a range of practical work to train professionals in street design, and enable local communities to improve their own neighbourhoods.
6. For further information about Living Streets or to become a member, visit http://www.livingstreets.org.uk or call 020 7820 1010 or email [email protected]

Published Thursday 24 April 2008