By Joseph Morales

    It’s mid-June, and we are just about a week and a half from public pools opening in New York City on June 27th. Pools tend to be a summer hotspot for New Yorkers, as 1.7 million people visited the city’s public pools in 2018. With it being the day after school ends for NYC students, opening day is set to be a major splash.

             In January 2024, Governor Kathy Hochul announced NY SWIMS, the New York Statewide Investment in More Swimming, in her State of the State Address. The initiative aims to increase access to pools and safe swimming opportunities in response to several issues. These issues include rising summertime temperatures and the fact that drowning is the leading cause of death for kids ages 1-4. Drowning is also the second leading cause of death for kids ages 5-14. Steps being taken as part of the NY SWIMS initiative include addressing the statewide lifeguard shortage, providing more swim instruction, and adding more pools to underserved communities. Also, at the city level, City Councilmembers Selvena Brooks-Powers(Southeastern Queens), Shekar Krishnan(Jackson Heights/Elmhurst/Woodside), and Julie Menin(East Side, Manhattan) passed a legislative package with similar ideals. In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams signed the council legislation into law and is particularly fond of the NY SWIMS initiative. He said in a press release back in January about NY SWIMS that the initiative furthered his vision to ”’Protect public safety, revitalize the economy, and make this city more livable for hardworking New Yorkers.”’ He also said that this included ”’investing in our city’s children with new swimming infrastructure.”’

                While the NY SWIMS initiative is a historic investment in swimming, it largely omits one critical element of its potential success. That element is how people are going to get to pools, particularly in NYC. According to NYC Council data, 68% of New Yorkers lived more than a 15-minute walk from a public pool in 2021. This number varied by borough, with 65% of Manhattan residents being within a 15-minute walk of a pool, but only 12% of Queens residents able to say the same. Many areas of the city, such as parts of Upper Manhattan, the East Bronx, and Southern and Western Brooklyn, also have pool deserts. Some areas also only have mini pools, which are significantly smaller and are only meant to be used only by children ages 16 and under. Other communities also only have indoor pools located in recreation centers, which, in most cases, require a paid membership for access. 

               People located a further distance from pools often must take a bus or subway ride to get to a pool, with varying lengths depending on a person’s residence. This can be particularly tedious for people with children and/or if getting to a pool requires a transfer. It can also be difficult to get to a pool if it is located off an unreliable bus or subway line. According to the NYC Department of City Planning, only 46% of NYC households have access to a vehicle. Hence, pools that are accessible by walking, biking, and transit are critical to ensuring that as many New Yorkers as possible have pool access. Currently, the only aspect of the NY SWIMS initiative that mentions transportation is to help kids and families get to swimming facilities through the state’s Connect Kids Programs. However, Connect Kids only provides field trip reimbursements for schools and non-profits, which will likely not help families trying to access pools on their own time. 

                There are several solutions the state and city can pursue to address transportation issues to pools. Given the number of communities that lack pool access, the most self-explanatory solution is to build new pools in communities of need. This is a significant part of the NY SWIMS initiative, with the state creating a $60 million grant program for the construction and renovation of pools in urban areas. They are also starting a $30 million municipal grant program to fund “small, mobile, pop-up swimming pools.” In addition, the New York City Council passed a bill written by Majority Whip Selvena Brooks-Powers(Southeast Queens) that requires the Parks Department to find suitable locations for pool construction and collaborate and prioritize Environmental Justice(EJ) Communities when choosing pool locations.

                  These policies can certainly help address the issue of pool access, but they do have limitations. The goal of prioritizing EJ communities makes sense as these areas cope with environmental challenges including but not limited to increased air pollution and a lack of green space. However, there was no mention of prioritizing pools in EJ communities that are the furthest from a pool in any community. This is important as about half of the city’s population lives in an EJ community. Hence, the city might want to take it a step further and prioritize pools in EJ communities that are not within a 15-minute subway ride of a pool and have lower car ownership rates. Also, the city can prioritize choosing sites for pools that are closest to as many subway stations/bus stops as possible and that are accessible from the largest possible radius. This is especially important in places like Queens, where fewer residents boroughwide have access to public pools.

                   Another potential way to help New Yorkers get to pools is to improve mass transit connections to pools. Given how many transportation needs there are in NYC, access to pools may be hard to prioritize when making transit improvement plans. However, there are a few steps that can be taken to improve transit connectivity. One is to establish summer shuttle services from subway stations to pools that are far from the subway or other major transit services such as the LIRR. An example of this working was in the Summers of 2008, 2009 and 2012 when the Barretto Point Park Pool Shuttle transported riders from the Hunts Point Av(6) station in the Bronx to a floating pool at the park. Hundreds of riders used this shuttle daily to access the pool from the subway station as there are no public pools along the 6 train route in The Bronx. When the service was initially axed in 2010 following the Great Recession, the Parks Department reported a 25% attendance drop for the pool that season. While the service was permanently shut down after 2012, it was effectively replaced by the Bx46 bus, which runs from the Longwood Av(6) station to the pool. Other places where a similar service can be useful for pool-goers are listed in the table below. While its only seven routes, a shuttle service could create pool access for thousands.

Rail Station	Pool	Borough
45th St(R)	Sunset Pool	Brooklyn
9 Av(D)	Sunset Pool	Brooklyn
Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr	Commodore Barry Pool	Brooklyn
Bayside LIRR	Fort Totten Pool	Queens
110th St(6)	Thomas Jefferson Pool	Manhattan
Gun Hill Rd(5)	Haffen Pool	Bronx
Arthur Kill(SIR)	Tottenville Pool	Staten Island

                 Outside of mass transit, the New York City Department of Transportation(NYCDOT) can work to keep streets near pools as safe as possible for pedestrians. Projects over the past few years such as the Hylan Blvd Road Diet on Staten Island and a street improvement project on E 180th St in The Bronx, have or will help to keep pedestrians safe upon completion. However, there is a long way to go, as 80.6% of NYC public pools accessible to all are located on or near Vision Zero Priority Corridors. The rates in each borough are shown below.

Borough	Pools off Vision Zero Priority Corridor
Bronx	57.1%
Brooklyn	88.9%
Manhattan	91.7%
Queens	75%
Staten Island	75%
Citywide	80.6%

                Pedestrian conditions can be improved in a variety of ways depending on the street conditions. On wide streets, the NYCDOT has taken initiatives such as road narrowings, pedestrian islands, and curb extensions to reduce car speeds and expand pedestrian space. Each of these steps individually has reduced pedestrian killed or seriously injured(KSI) rates by 28-44% citywide where implemented. In addition, the city’s transportation department can also implement turn calming, bike lanes, and other measures in most areas that will reduce pedestrian injuries by similar rates. These steps can be taken at individual intersections near pools or at several intersections on a street to keep people safe while walking to a pool.

                With summer in full swing and a historic investment in swimming access, this season is poised to be a great one to visit a local pool. Hopefully, more initiatives can be taken to improve transportation to pools so that more New Yorkers can fully reap the benefits of swimming investments and enjoy everything that pools have to offer in the city.

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