New York City’s 311 service has been around since 2003. Today, I finally had reason to use it.

The traffic light at 8th and 39th is quite out of sync with the other lights on 8th Avenue. This causes the traffic on 8th to back up, more than usual anyway. So, I rang up 311 and my call was answered promptly by a friendly operator. She was able to quickly find the right agency to talk to about the situation. I was transferred to the DOT specialist who quickly took the information. I was told that someone should respond within 2 hours. I’ll monitor the situation closely…

Update: A day later, the lights are synced again. Whether or not my call to 311 made a difference, I’ll never know.