COMMUTERS are being urged to get on board a bus to beat the traffic during a special week.

Catch the Bus Week 2015,gets underway today (MON) and Swindon operator Thamesdown Transport is urging people to beat the traffic by doing exactly that.

Running until July 5, the week is a celebration of the benefits of taking the bus.

And to celebrate the event, Thamesdown will be giving away a series of daily prizes to their Twitter followers.

Swindon MPs Robert Buckland and Justin Tomlinson were ‘on hand’ to help Thamesdown launch the competition with Thamesdown managing director, Paul Jenkins.

Prizes will include free four weekly TravelPasses, as well as tickets to Cineworld in Regent Circus.

All you need to do to enter is follow Thamesdown by logging on to twitter.com/thamesdown and tweet to win.

Paul Jenkins, managing director of Thamesdown Transport, said: “Travelling by bus is a convenient and green way of getting around Swindon.

"I would encourage people to make the most of Catch the Bus Week to see how easy it is to go by bus and the potential savings compared to driving and parking.

"Our bus network across Swindon can easily get you to the leisure and retail highlights in the town throughout the day and evening, including Regent Circus, the town centre, the Designer Outlet and the Orbital Shopping Park.

“We’ve recently extended a number of our routes and improved the frequency of services, particularly in the evening and so there has been no better time to consider an alternative way of travel.”

He said travelling by bus in the evenings had got easier with the EveningRider Plus ticket, which allows unlimited travel within the urban area after 7pm, and costs £2.50.

Families can also benefit at weekends and throughout school holidays with the Family for a Fiver ticket.

For more information on Thamesdown, visit www.thamesdownbus.com.

Follow Thamesdown on Twitter @thamesdown or www.twitter.com/thamesdown.