At tonight’s Parks and Rec Fees and Charges committee meeting, I learned that the Raleigh Parks and Recreation Aquatics program plans to do away with the popular punch passes. The passes allow 15 swims apiece but will be phased out beginning in January.
Aquatics director Terry Stroupe said the goal is to get people moved to the monthly and annual passes, which offer greater savings. I believe there is also an issue with the new “class” system and swipe cards not being able to support the punch-pass type of transaction.
My family loves the convenience of punch passes since we don’t have to bring our wallets to the pool. While a monthly pass might offer savings in the summertime it will be difficult to justify its cost during the offseason.
I’m still trying to figure out the impact of this change and will review my notes tomorrow to see if I can get a better idea of how this will work. I believe it will affect a lot of pool users, however, and don’t know how many realize it.