Skating should be more popular
As people age, it becomes harder for them to find an effective aerobic exercise that won't cause injury. Running is effective but is so high impact that it causes endless injuries to older people, walking isn't strenuous enough to be effective, cycling is straight up dangerous, swimming makes you wet and rowing doesn't allow you to exert yourself enough to make you feel good. Skating is the greatest, safest, healthiest aerobic exercise that exists. A person who weight trains for anaerobic exercise and skates for aerobic exercise can safely exercise their whole life without any injuries whatsoever and with all the health benefits that come from regular strenuous exercise.
We don't need to get fat when we get old!
Indoor skating should be especially popular as indoors, it never rains, there are no dogs or cars or weirdos and it's climate controlled. Skating can therefore be safe for people to do and can add enormous value to peoples' lives, as well as reducing the burden of an aging population on the healthcare industry. The benefits of a healthier population are, of course, to the individuals themselves and also to the government too as a healthier population can be more productive and less of a burden on resources than an unhealthy population.
So it's in the government's best interest to promote skating more - to not only build and fund indoor skating facilities but to also promote skating to young children, with the goal of making them life-long skaters and therefore healthier, more productive individuals in a healthier, more productive population.
At $10 a session, it's currently really expensive to skate every day. The government should subsidize this cost since the government would receive the benefit of a healthier, more productive population and a less bloated healthcare system. It sure seems to me that it'd be better to pay to prevent healthcare issues than to try to fix them after they've occurred.
Comments
I'm not sure I agree with you about the government getting involved by subsidising. That raises a lot of complications. I can see mounds of paperwork for rink operators for one thing. If the government subsidised the cost by paying individual skaters to exercise, then I might be more agreeable to the plan. How that would be worked might be a problem though.
Promotion of skating (and other forms of exercise) by the government, I fully agree with.
Roller skating might be a fun hobby, but there are some disadvantages to consider. For example, if you are not careful, this sport can be dangerous. It can be physically taxing, difficult to learn, and expensive to pursue. Furthermore, finding a spot to roller-skate can be difficult at times.
I suggest to skate outdoors when you can to offset the cost. My wife and I skate 2 to 3 times a week and till recently it has mostly been indoors. Now we skate outdoors at least twice a week during summer and skate indoors during adult skate nights.
Check your local meetups or events. Here in Cincinnati, Ohio we have a lot of places to skate. Also we just started skating at a community recreational center and paid 10 dollars for the year where they have skate events almost every week or open skating every evening.