News Release
November 18, 2021

In line with the provincial government’s lifting of capacity restrictions in many sport and recreation facilities, online reservations will soon no longer be required for City of Toronto fitness centres, weight rooms, indoor playgrounds, or drop-in leisure swim.

This morning, the last batch of reservations for these City programs will be made available at 8 a.m. for the next week. During this week, walk-in spaces will be added to increase capacity in these programs, and reservations will no longer be available for these programs, effective Monday, November 29.

Following feedback from participants, reservations will continue to be available for lane swimming and Aquafit, and additional walk-in spaces will be added.

Online reservations were first implemented in 2020 for indoor swimming, indoor fitness, and skating, to help manage capacity and avoid lineups. At the time, capacity was significantly limited by provincial emergency regulations and the reservations allowed residents to plan and avoid disappointment. Customer service call centre hours were also extended into evenings and weekends to assist Torontonians with reservations. Walk-in spaces for these programs were available for those without internet access. Since reservations were implemented, more than 2.1 million reservations were made for drop-in skate, swim and fitness. More than 46,000 accounts were created online since the functionality was made available in June 2021.

 While the need for reservations has been lifted and capacities are increasing, Ontario law requires proof of vaccination to enter indoor sports and recreation facilities, such as gyms and pools. When visiting premises requiring proof of vaccination, people may show either the electronic version of the certificate with a QR code or a paper copy. All valid vaccine certificates continue to be accepted at City sports and recreational fitness facilities and for activities where proof of vaccination is required by law.

More information is available online.

“This is another sign of the progress we are making fighting the pandemic and helping residents get vaccinated. Torontonians are ready to get back to doing what they love, and these changes will make it easier for people to do just that. Easier access to the wide range of City-led fitness and swim programs helps us stay active and healthy. These programs are fun, affordable, located within our neighbourhoods, and I am pleased to see the progress our city is making in getting vaccinated directly correlating to more services opening up.”

– Mayor John Tory

“I’m pleased that we are able to further reduce restrictions and make it easier for Toronto residents to access our community recreation centres. This is another important step forward as we continue to safely restore services and help our communities recover from the pandemic.”

– Councillor Michael Thompson (Scarborough Centre), Chair of the Economic and Community Development Committee

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Media Relations