Date: 28 September 2007 08:44

 Park & Ride GETS TO THE HEART OF THE COMMUNITY WITH brand new fleet

Cambridge's award winning Park & Ride is launching a new campaign to improve 
the hearts and health of its buses and passengers.

 Stagecoach has made a massive £2.8 million investment in a new fleet of 
state of the art Park & Ride buses which has a leaner, greener engine at its 
heart.

To celebrate the arrival of the new buses Cambridgeshire County Council and 
Stagecoach have teamed up with Boots to launch Heart & Ride - offering free 
health checks on board one of the new buses for passengers and residents.

At the heart of the new buses are super green engines that meet the latest 
European emission standards and Park & Ride wants all their customers to 
think about their hearts to ensure they are as healthy as possible.

With World Heart Day happening on Sunday 30th September and the theme this 
year being  "Team up for healthy hearts! "Cambridge's Park & Ride service is 
offering the public the opportunity for a free heart check up.

Councillor Shona Johnstone, Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council said: 
"Park & Ride is often at the heart of the community having already raised 
thousands of pounds for charity and raising awareness over health issues. It 
has always been a fantastic service and we are delighted by the investment 
Stagecoach has made and hope our customers enjoy using the new buses. 
Cambridgeshire County Council is also in the process of installing ticket 
machines at each of the five Park & Ride sites which will enable customers 
to purchase their tickets before boarding. We know this will greatly improve 
boarding times and as such reduce the overall journey times.

"Heart & Ride is the latest initiative to be delivered by Park & Ride and we 
would like to encourage as many people as possible to hop on one of the new 
buses in Central Cambridge during early October for a quick health check."

Andy Campbell, Managing Director for Stagecoach in Cambridge said: 
"Stagecoach are really proud of the new Park & Ride buses, we believe they 
offer passengers a greatly improvement environment for their journey. They 
were designed with customers in mind, as the last customer survey showed 
that our customers felt low emissions should be the single most important 
feature of the new buses. We listened and deliver buses that achieved this. 
Some of the other features the new buses have are improved leg room, an
air-chilled upper deck and more space for pushchairs."

Hugh McKendrick, Store Manager for Boots in Cambridge said: "Boots are 
really pleased to be involved with this initiative. We are always keen to 
look for new ways in which we can promote the importance of looking after 
your heart and felt this was an ideal opportunity. On board the Heart & Ride 
bus our store colleagues will be offering a combination of blood pressure 
checks, BMI calculations and real life lung tests to anyone who steps on 
board. This really is a fantastic opportunity for people to get a quick 
health check without having to make an appointment."

The Heart & Ride bus will be available for customers to hop on between 
10am - 2pm on the following dates and places:
* Tuesday 2nd October in Sidney Street Cambridge
* Wednesday 3rd October in New Square Cambridge
* Thursday 4th October at the Cambridge Retail Park on Newmarket Road, 
Cambridge.

In addition, as part of Heart & Ride, Park & Ride customers are also being 
given the opportunity to try out Cambridgeshire County Council's 
carbo-meter. The Carbo-meter is a brand new interactive exhibit lined to a 
treadmill. The exhibit was commissioned by the Safer Routes to School team, 
and is designed to show how many calories you burn whilst walking and the 
health and environmental benefits of an active journey.

The Carbo-meter will be available at Babraham Road Park & Ride site on 
Thursday 27th September between 10am - 2pm and also at Trumpington Park & 
Ride on Thursday 11th October between 9am - 2pm.

Councillor Shona Johnstone said: "The carbo-meter is a fantastic educational 
tool which we know will be useful in teaching children about the importance 
of having an active lifestyle. Park & Ride customers are being given an 
exclusive preview of it as part of this campaign and I hope they enjoy 
trying it out."

For further information about Heart & Ride please visit
www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/parkandride

John Reynolds