Transit users are three times more likely to achieve fitness guidelines than those who don't use transit, say Canadian researchers who interviewed 18,326 people in Atlanta, Ga., who kept diaries of their modes of travel over two consecutive days.
The study used the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada's suggested daily minimum of 30 minutes of moderate physical activity a day, five days a week, CBC News reported.
The more people in the study used their cars, they less likely they were to meet the minimum activity guideline, said the University of British Columbia study.
"The idea of needing to go to the gym to get your daily dose of exercise is a misperception," associate professor Lawrence Frank, who teaches community and regional planning, said in a news release, CBC News reported.
"These short walks throughout our day are historically how we have gotten our activity," he noted. "Unfortunately, we've engineered this activity out of our daily lives."
The study was published in the Journal of Public Health Policy.