COMMUTERS in Northern Ireland made 33,000 journeys on public transport, foot and bike during an initiative in June to beat the traffic and encourage people to get healthier.
Figures show that more than 2,100 people from a wide range of industry sectors and workplaces left their cars at home and walked, cycled or hopped on the train or bus during Active Travel month.
Staff from public and private sector organisations went head-to-head in the challenge, organised by Sustrans and Translink and funded by the Public Health Agency (PHA) and the Department for Infrastructure (DfI).
At an awards ceremony at the Black Box in the city’s Cathedral Quarter, Allstate NI were declared champions in the largest workplace category, with Libraries NI and Aecom also winners in their categories.
Three employers were joint winners in the smallest workplace categories - Strabane Community Project, MCR Consulting and Clarus Financial Technology.
More than 80 workplaces registered for this year's challenge, comprising 2,120 people.
David Tumilty from the PHA said: “The success of the Active Travel Challenge has shown how more people are continuing to embrace active travel as part of their daily lives. It offers great examples of how easy it can be to fit walking, cycling and public transport in to the working day and enjoy the health benefits of doing so.
“The PHA encourages everyone to actively travel as much as possible, and this can help contribute to meeting the Chief Medical Officer’s recommended minimum amount of physical activity of 150 minutes a week.”
Of the 33,000 journeys made during the Challenge, 10,000 were by public transport.
Ashley Hunter from Sustrans said: “Given the serious amount of congestion we experience in our urban areas across Northern Ireland, it's important we do all we can to encourage people to travel more sustainably.”
