TORONTO — Is there a pothole on your commute that needs fixing?
What about an overflowing garbage bin in the park down the street?
Those issues and hundreds of others can now be addressed exclusively online, as the city launches a revamped 311 web portal to complement its existing call centre.
The new and improved portal, which went live today, will allow residents to make approximately 600 different service requests online and then receive updates about the progress of the request through email or text message.
There will also be added functionality intended to speed up the response time for some service requests.
So, for example, if you spot a pothole or some graffiti you can now attach a photo so that city crews know exactly where to go rather than having to verbally relay the information to a call centre operator.
“We have invested $5 million to make these improvements possible but it also should lead to better service for you and ultimately less cost per service given simply because it will be done so much more efficiently and you'll be able to do more of it yourself in terms of getting to what you need faster on your own,” Mayor John Tory said during a press conference on Monday morning in which he outlined the improvements. “It is going to be more satisfying for you, we hope, both during the remainder of the pandemic and after it ends.”
Tory said that work on the new 311 portal has been underway for years but was accelerated during the pandemic as call centre operators fielded a staggering two million calls and 190,000 emails, many of which from residents seeking information about COVID-19-related issues.
He said that the new portal has been updated with approximately 5,000 records on city programs and services, so that users will be less likely to have to call 311 or visit city hall in search of information.
The information will also be available in more than 50 different languages.
“We had begun to push to go digital on a much broader basis you know long before the pandemic, but the pandemic certainly helped us to speed things up and this is if there are any good news stories out of the pandemic, this is one,” Tory said. “In the wake of COVID-19 we've seen how important it is to have more digital and self-serve options so that people aren't necessarily waiting in line. They can choose their time to get their information or to file their request and do it in that fashion and of course that is easier for us too.”
While the new 311 portal is launching for the first time today, the city had previously tested the technology by allowing residents to book select Toronto Water services online. Tory said that pilot project ultimately reduced wait times and “facilitated and improved information flow between 311 and Toronto Water.”
