A Work in Progress: Philadelphia's 311 System After One Year

A study from Pew's Philadelphia Research Initiative finds that Philadelphia's 311 contact system succeeded during its first year of operation in giving residents improved and easier access to information about city government. It did so at lower cost than other cities and won strong ratings from its customers.  But the system also mishandled thousands of service requests, and nearly one quarter of all service requests were not completed in the promised timeframe.  

The study reviewed Philly311's operations in 2009 in relation to 14 other communities that operate 311 systems.  Among those communities are most of the largest with such systems—New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami-Dade County (FL), Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Detroit, Charlotte-Mecklenburg (NC), San Francisco, Columbus (OH), Baltimore, Denver and Pittsburgh.