Learn more about 311
City Council recently voted to move forward with planning a new 311 initiative that will provide multi-lingual service 24/7 to Vancouver citizens as early as 2008. City staff are now working on a detailed proposal to bring back to Council for final approval.
The system would provide for a single number – 311 – instead of over 550 blue page numbers currently available to access city services. 311 would also provide a single source of information for City events and notices, from public hearings to road closures. It would also act as a back up to 911 during an emergency or major incident, freeing up 911 lines for critical calls.
If implemented, the 311 service will cost approximately five dollars per Vancouverite per year. Vancouver would be the fifth city in Canada to adopt the system.
The benefits of 311 for Vancouver citizens:
1. 311 will remove barriers to contacting the City
- Service 24 hours a day, seven days a week
- Citizen service representatives will be fluent in predominant Vancouver languages and over-the-phone interpretation would be offered in over 150 languages
2. 311 will reduce “not knowing who to call” at the City
- A single number instead of over 550 blue page numbers
- Currently, over 120,000 of the City’s 1.4 million calls annually are received in the wrong department and must be transferred — there will be no wrong numbers with 311
- One stop shopping — cities that have implemented 311 are able to deal with 70-80% of citizen inquiries on first contact
3. 311 will be a key communications tool
- One source of information for City events and notices, from public hearings to road closures, to information regarding the Olympic Games
- It will acts as a back up to 911 during an emergency or major incident, freeing up 911 lines for critical calls
The benefits of 311 for the City of Vancouver
311 data on types of calls and how quickly the City responded will provide managers with opportunities to:
- better align resources with citizen needs
- examine data trends for opportunities to improve processes
- assess performance goals against actual data
