INFOGRAPHIC: Scroll down to bottom of story for an in-depth look at the history of 311 in Calgary.
CALGARY – The City of Calgary is celebrating the 10 year anniversary of their 311 telephone service.
The system was launched on May 18th, 2005, and has changed quite a bit since then according to The Director of Customer Service and Communication.
“311 is more than just a phone number,” says Cindy Pickett. “Citizens can get information… and complete transactions – not just over the phone but also through The City’s website and mobile app – something that wasn’t even on our radar 10 years ago.”
Calgary’s 311 call service was the first in Canada.
“This system works,” says Manager of Citizen Services Clarke Bellamy. “We have seen many examples of that in the past few years with the numerous natural disaster situations that Calgary has faced.”
One of the disasters Bellamy is referring to is the devastating flood which struck Calgary in 2013, during which 311 saw its highest call volume ever recorded.
311 received 330,284 calls in June and July of 2013 – numbers that would normally be seen over a four month period.
“We made history in the 2014 September snowstorm as well,” says Bellamy. “September was not only a record call volume month with 124,000 calls in one month, but we had 28,400 calls in a single day – a record for the most calls in one day in our history.”
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