Fill Me In
ActiveSG has announced that it will be tightening pre-booking measures for its gym and pool facilities from 1 October.
Members who do not turn up for three bookings in a month will have their membership suspended for two weeks, and they will not be allowed to book or use any ActiveSG facilities. Members will be informed of their suspension via email.
Additionally, members will now only be allowed to make bookings up to three days in advance. They were previously allowed to book slots up to 15 days in advance.
Why this new regulation?
SGActive has implemented these new regulations as a result of users who did not show up for their bookings, which has prevented other users from using the facilities. Since the reopening of SGActive facilities in late June, pre-booking has been made compulsory to avoid crowding and queues.
Despite sports facilities experiencing a high demand, with about 98 per cent of gym slots taken up monthly, the absenteeism rate has been reported to be more than 15 per cent.
Sng Hock Lin, Chief of ActiveSG explained that the stricter regulations are “to prevent members from hoarding slots that could otherwise be used meaningfully by other members”.
He also commented that the data revealed that the tendency for absenteeism increases when a member books a slot far in advance, hence the new limitation of days in which members are allowed to pre-book facilities.
“These revisions are part of Sport Singapore’s progressive efforts in managing our resources while meeting the expectations of our community… to cater to all members of the public,” he said in an interview with The New Paper.
What about in the event of bad weather?
ActiveSG has clarified that it will not penalise members if the facilities cannot be utilised in the event of lightning and downpour, or if there is poor visibility in the pool. However, members will not be refunded in cases of a light drizzle.
Members will be compensated if a certain facility has been closed by ActiveSG for maintenance or other reasons.
More detailed information about the use of ActiveSG facilities can be found here.
Similar strategy to be applied in places of worship
In order to maintain safe distancing measures for congregations during worship services, religious organisations have also implemented a similar booking system. One of these is the Mass Attendance Registration System (MARS) for the Catholic Church.
Analogously, the pre-booking function has resulted in ‘no-shows’ for some members. The Archbishop’s communications office noticed such a trend when MARS was implemented. “As MARS enables the advanced booking of masses for the coming month, there have been cases where those who made bookings did not turn up, perhaps due to a change in their schedules or circumstances,” they said in a statement to The New Paper.
Instead of suspending members, the Catholic Church has put in place a self-cancellation feature for members to free up their slots if they are unable to attend mass. There are also plans to allow only two weekend bookings a month.
