14.08.2026, 07:59

The petition was expanded from a demand specific to Sommerbad Kreuzberg (Prinzenbad) to a claim covering all Berlin pools with lap lanes (summer and indoor pools). The justification was also refined: with more detail on the concrete safety risks (collisions, kicks), a clarification that slow swimmers keep access to their own lane, and a note on already-failed direct talks with staff, pool management, and the BBB.


New petition description:

We call on the management (Vorstand)board of the Berliner Bäder-Betriebe (BBB) to introduce a clear, three-tier speed separation for the swimming lanes atin Sommerbadall KreuzbergBerlin (Prinzenbad):pools with lap-swimming areas, both outdoor (summer) and indoor pools: "Slow Swimming",Swimming," "Medium Pace",Pace," and "Fast Swimming".Swimming." This measure is fundamentally necessary to minimize the acute risk of injury caused by massive speed differences in the poolpool, city-wide, and to ensure an organized environment.environment, Thiswithout ongoingtaking safetylane issueaccess isaway nowfrom furtheranyone. exacerbatedSummer bypools like Sommerbad Kreuzberg (Prinzenbad) show the upcomingproblem closuremost clearly, but it affects practically every lap pool in the city, regardless of allseason indooror pools in Berlin for the summer vacation, leaving fitness swimmers and triathletes with zero training alternatives and making safe lanes at Prinzenbad more critical than ever.closures.

SommerbadSwimming Kreuzberglanes (Prinzenbad)are isa onescarce resource in Berlin. In most of Berlin'sthe most popular outdoorcity's pools, butfitness theswimmers, currentcasual situationrecreational in the lap pool is unsustainableswimmers, and dangerous.very Withoutslow anyswimmers, speedoften separation,doing fast swimmers and fitness athletes are forced tobreaststroke, share the exact same narrow laneslanes, with veryno slowspeed swimmersseparation whoat oftenall. alsoSwimmers swim breaststroke. Those swimminggoing at a faster pace or practicingdoing front crawl constantlyregularly hit what feels like a "metaphoricalwall wall".when Dangerousthey run into an unexpected breaststroke swimmer. Dangerous, painful collisions andfrom painfulkicks, kicksoften to the face or ribsribs, are a daily occurrence.occurrence, Overtakingbecause forcesfront-crawl swimmers, who swim face down, often can't spot slower swimmers ahead of them in time. With such a large speed difference, this creates a sudden moment of surprise: in the better case it feels like hitting a wall, in the worse case it's a kick to the face. The necessary evasive move into the middle of the lane,lane creatingthen creates hazardous head-ononcoming traffictraffic: faster swimmers regularly have to swim against the lane's actual direction to overtake, putting themselves and chaos.oncoming swimmers at risk of head-on collisions. These situations aren't just dangerous in themselves, they also constantly generate tension and arguments between swimmers. This problem exists fundamentally and urgently needs a solution, regardless of whether it's peak season or pools are closed.

Summer pools like Sommerbad Kreuzberg (Prinzenbad) show this at its most extreme. But they're simply the sharpest expression of a broader organizational problem across Berlin's pools, not an isolated case. Pool staff know the problem very well, but won't change anything about it without instructions from management.

The argument sometimes raised that lanespeed separation discriminateswould discriminate against slower swimmers is invalid:factually wrong: pools like Prinzenbad featuresalso threehave separate pools,pools plus a veryand wide, non-laneunstructured area specifically meantareas for casual, unstructuredfree swimming. There isThere's more than enough spaceroom for recreation. Long-established international standards proveshow that everyone winsbenefits from speed-based lane separation. Our demand isn't about taking lap-lane access away from slower swimmers. Quite the opposite: a speed-basedthree-tier setup.system Moreover,("Slow thisSwimming," exact"Medium practicePace," "Fast Swimming") still gives slower lap swimmers their own lane, just separated from significantly faster swimmers. Nobody loses access, everyone gains safety and order.

The situation is alreadymade successfullyworse implementedin the summer months by the Berlinerfact Bäder-Betriebe in other pools across the city, such as the SSE and Stadtbad Tiergarten. This allows swimmers of all levels to enjoy the water at their own pace without fear of injury or constant arguments.This already hazardous situation is now further exacerbated: as summer begins,that Berlin's indoor pools close completely for the summer vacation,break, meaningleaving crucialfitness trainingswimmers lanesand triathletes across the city disappear.with even fewer training alternatives. This leaves Prinzenbad asmakes the onlyproblem accessibleespecially training venueacute in summer, but it exists year-round, including in some of the area.indoor Thepools.

We have already tried several times to resolve the problem directly: in conversation with staff on-site, in writing with pool management, and with the management of the Berliner Bäder-Betriebe (BBB). All of these attempts have so far been firmly rejected.

Pools like Stadtbad Tiergarten or SSE already show successfully that such separation works. We are therefore not asking for a one-off exception for a single pool, but for a binding, city-wide standard, so that the BBB must act now to finally ensuretakes aresponsibility for safe, stress-free, and injury-freeorganized swimming environmentacross forthe allwhole visitors!city.