FIRST have whipped up a great way for you to see more, enjoy more, and experience more this summer with free unlimited all-day travel for children.

As part of Catch the Bus Week, and to launch the new Kids Go Free offer, First Glasgow operations director Duncan Cameron spoke to customers and gave away free ice lollies, as he encouraged new users to swap a car journey for a bus trip, this summer.

Up to two kids, aged 5-15, can travel free around Greater Glasgow with every £4.30 Adult FirstDay ticket – buy your Adult FirstDay ticket on the bus or on the mTickets app.

Duncan said: “For most people the daily commute to work is something to be put up with rather than enjoyed, yet how we get there and how long it takes has an impact on how we feel. 

“The benefits of bus travel can outweigh the daily stresses of commuting by car, so with this week being national Catch the Bus Week, we’d like to encourage drivers to do something different and make at least one journey that would have been made by car, by bus instead. 

“With all this fantastic weather we are enjoying at the moment, this was the perfect opportunity to get out and speak to customers about our services, inform them of our fantastic Kids Go Free offer and give them an ice lolly to enjoy in this lovely weather on their commute home.”

There are many other benefits to catching the bus – including helping the environment and improving your wellbeing – here’s five top reasons why you should switch a car journey to a bus trip this catch the bus week.

  1. A fully loaded bus can take 75 cars off the road - Buses are key to tackling congestion and reducing emissions in the city – and in fact, the latest buses with Euro Vi engines offer 95-99 per cent reductions in the most harmful pollutants such as Nitrogen Oxide and particulates against the Euro II and Euro III buses they replace. 
  2. You can now pay for your bus via contactless – Since January 2018, First Scotland has been accepting contactless payments across its entire bus fleet – so there’s no need to worry about having the right change for the driver anymore.
  3. An easy way to burn more calories and get regular exercise - Greener Journeys research found that the daily short walk to and from the 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. And 58 per cent of 25-34-year-olds said the bus made them feel fitter and healthier, as did half of those aged 65 or over. 
  4. Getting the bus can be less stressful than travelling by car - Dr Lewis, from the University of Sussex, conducted an experiment in which the heart rate and Electro-Dermal Response (EDR) of 30 commuters was measured when taking identical or similar journeys by car as a driver and by bus as a passenger – the results showed that driving a car is significantly more stressful than travelling by bus.
  5. Bus travel can make you feel happier - A study of 18,000 British workers by a team at University of East Anglia found commuting that involved some physical activity improved measures like feelings of worthlessness, sleepless nights and unhappiness.

Catch the Bus Week is a nationwide campaign aimed at driving awareness of the benefits of taking the bus. 

For full details of the Kids Go Free offer, go to firstgroup.com/greater-glasgow/kids-go-free.