Photo by Jonathan Fields

Photo by Jonathan Fields

Mayor Muriel Bowser is giving District residents one less excuse for getting fit in 2016. If the cost of using an elliptical machine is an issue for you, she’s waived the fee—at least at fitness centers run by the city.

D.C.’s Department of Parks and Recreation announced yesterday that D.C. residents’ fees at DPR fitness centers will be waived beginning January 1 (non-residents will still have to pay a fee to use the facilities).

The initiative is part of the mayor’s FitDC initiative, an effort to get D.C. residents to adopt healthier, more active lifestyles.

DPR operates 22 fitness centers throughout Wards 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Currently, it costs D.C. residents $125 a year or $5 day to hit the weights.The fees banked about $10,000 for the city annually, but Jordan Bennett, a spokesperson for the mayor, told The Washington Post that the money generated from the fees “wasn’t worth the number of people who might be dissuaded from using the facilities because of the cost.”

So with less money to put up for pull-ups, you may see more folks at your neighborhood gym in 2016.

Filed Under: FitDC, fitness, gym, mayor bowser, muriel bowser,