Mayor Ford touts mobile apps to combat potholes

The city is making it easier for residents to report one of the biggest nuisances for Toronto drivers and cyclists in a move that will cut out the middleman when it comes to making a 311 complaint.

Two smartphone apps for reporting potholes are up and running. Mayor Rob Ford touted the apps earlier this month with a focus on graffiti. He made another announcement Friday morning about how the mobile tools can be used to report potholes.

“The city will now instantly know about potholes and where they need to be filled,” Ford said Friday.

“This means that the work gets done quicker, more efficiently and improves customer service excellence, which all taxpayers want and deserve.”

TDOT 311 is currently only available for iPhone users who can quickly snap a picture of a pothole or graffiti. The image is then added to a Toronto map and added to a list of other 311 submissions.

The app developer — Public Leaf — will donate 30 cents to the Toronto Public Library Foundation for every download.

Another app, SeeClickFix, works on a similar premise and is available for iPhone, BlackBerry and Android phones. Former deputy mayor Joe Pantalone launched the Toronto SeeClickFix app during the 2010 mayoral campaign to allow residents to report problems with city services.

Both apps are free and connect directly to 311 Toronto, cutting out the need to go through a customer service representative.

The mobile tools are hosted by private companies that responded to the city’s open call to app developers.

The city promises to fill a pothole within five days of a complaint being filed. There were 72,000 pothole repairs this year, down from 90,000 in 2011.

Click here to download the apps.