On August 1, one of the few, if not the last, socio-sanitary measure derived from the pandemic still in force in Madrid will decline after the City Council of the capital has decided to recover the full-time shift of the municipal swimming pools to add it to the morning and afternoon shifts currently on offer. In this way, the user will decide the type of ticket they prefer for each day and, in case they want to spend the whole day soaking, they will no longer have to look for a refuge between 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., the hottest hours, as is currently the case.
The new schedules, we remember, will be implemented from August 1 and until the end of the season, on September 10. Subsequently, an evaluation of the establishment of the three shifts for the following seasons will be carried out.
The general entrance for the full-time shift will have a price of 4.50 euros, which is the amount established in the municipal regulations and the same that was in force in 2019, the last year with continuous hours before covid-19. In addition to the free admission for children under 5 years of age, the rest of the reductions of the assumptions established at the beginning of the season are maintained.
The August election is not accidental since, as the Madrid City Council points out, it is a month in which demand decreases. It will be the first time that the summer pools of the Madrid City Council offer three different shifts: from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. To distinguish full-time users, they will be given a wristband.
From the Madrid Council they emphasize that this modification allows rationalizing the number of tickets available, as well as meeting the needs of users with a payment in line with the use they make of the pool. The Councilor for Sport of the Madrid City Council, Sonia Cea, stressed that the objective of this measure is "to offer a service that is better suited to the needs of the people of Madrid".
On the other hand, also from next month the maximum number of tickets that each person can buy in advance through the internet will be reduced. Compared to the nine tickets that can now be purchased per person 48 hours in advance, from August 1 the maximum number will be six tickets.
This measure is in addition to the one taken two weeks ago to increase the percentage of tickets available at the box office from 5% to 10%, especially aimed at favoring the most vulnerable groups with the digital divide. With all this, "it is intended to carry out a better management of the capacities of the swimming pools".
The people of Madrid have 20 operational summer swimming pools (all except Vicente del Bosque and Hortaleza), in addition to the two indoor swimming pools that offer recreational use this summer: the La Masó sports center (Fuencarral-El Pardo), which will function as a climate refuge until August 15, since it is scheduled to close for maintenance work on that date; and the Raúl González indoor pool in the Villaverde district, during weekdays in July.
