Pooling resources: City's Parks and Rec department rolls out monthly, pay-as-you-go lap swim passes

For Tucson residents who use city pools for regular exercise, the change arriving Sept. 1 will add a new cost to a routine that has long been available without an extra fee. Lap swimmers and people who use the pools for water walking will need to buy a pass or pay for individual visits at city pools, including Catalina High School Pool. Recreational swimming will remain free, creating a different pricing system for people using the same public aquatic facilities.

The new fees are being introduced by the Tucson Parks and Recreation Department to help cover the rising expense of operating the city’s pools. Department Director Lara Hamway said staffing and maintenance have become more expensive over the past several years. The pass system is intended to recover part of those costs while allowing the city to continue offering regularly scheduled lap swimming. The department also expects to learn from the rollout as it evaluates how the new approach works.

The available options include a $30 monthly pass, a $10 punchcard that covers five visits, and a $2 daily payment option listed in city documents. The requirement applies to both lap swimming and water walking, activities that have often been used by residents seeking low impact exercise. Starting Sept. 1, a swimmer who wants to use a city pool for either purpose will need to pay through one of those options. People attending for recreational swimming will not face the new charge.

At Catalina Pool, the policy change is especially significant because the facility has developed a dependable group of regular swimmers. The pool is located on the Catalina High School campus and offers a nine lane competitive setup measuring 25 yards by 25 meters. The city currently provides lap swim sessions there several days each week, giving swimmers a consistent place to exercise in Midtown. For people who plan their routines around those sessions, the new fee could determine whether they continue using the pool as often.

David Bean, who has swum at Catalina since 2021, said the pool fits his physical needs particularly well. His routine includes about 30 minutes of swimming followed by running forward and backward in deeper water. He said that exercise helps his hip, making the pool more than simply a recreational destination. For swimmers who depend on water exercise because it is easier on their joints or supports rehabilitation and mobility, a fee could affect access to an important part of their routine.

Bean said he recognizes that public services require funding, but he questioned the distinction between paid lap swimming and free recreational swimming. His concern is that some longtime users will decide the added expense is too much and look elsewhere for exercise. He specifically raised the possibility that older swimmers could leave for gyms rather than pay for pool access. Although he expects to try to absorb the new cost himself, he said he worries about people who cannot or do not want to add another recurring expense.

The department’s explanation centers on maintaining the service rather than ending it. Hamway said the city wants to preserve reliable access to lap swimming, but cannot continue carrying the full cost of staffing and maintaining that access without asking users to contribute. The monthly pass is positioned as a way to spread the expense across frequent swimmers, while the punchcard and daily option provide alternatives for people who do not attend often enough to justify a monthly payment. That gives residents several ways to pay, although the overall change still ends no fee access for lap swimming and water walking.

The policy also creates a clear difference between the city’s two broad types of pool use. Someone visiting for recreational swimming can continue to use the pools without paying an additional fee, while someone swimming laps or walking in the water must pay beginning Sept. 1. At Catalina, that distinction has already prompted debate among regular users about what kinds of activity should be subsidized through public pool operations. The city, meanwhile, is moving forward with the change as a cost recovery effort tied to the growing demands of aquatic facility operations.

Residents who use Catalina or other city pools for lap swimming or water walking will need to choose an access option before their next visit after the start date. The city’s pass system will apply across all city pools, not only Catalina High School Pool. The department has not presented the change as a one time adjustment, but as a new way to help fund ongoing staffing and maintenance while it assesses the results. For Tucson’s lap swimming community, Sept. 1 marks the end of a longstanding free arrangement and the beginning of a pay as you go system that could reshape who continues to use the pools regularly.