Wondering when is the best time to call 311? You can now check the current wait times online

Winnipeg one of the first major Canadian cities to post real time 311 wait times

Closeup of a mobile phone calling 311. Mute, keypad, and speaker buttons are also shown.

If you need to get a hold of us with a concern or question, you can now easily check how long you might have to wait on hold if you call 311. Current wait times and talk times for our 311 contact centre are now being posted on our website and updated every five minutes.

“While we are open 24/7, we typically notice the shortest wait times are early in the morning or later in the evening but unexpected events can lead to a sudden jump in people calling us,” said Felicia Wiltshire, Director of Customer Service and Communications.

Wiltshire added that Winnipeg is one of the first cities in Canada to proactively post contact centre wait times online.

You can find the wait time information in a widget on the 311 website under the “Track a service request” feature. Fed by our Open Data Portal, the widget has two additional tabs – one that displays a graph of wait time and talk time trends for today, and one that displays a graph of wait time and talk time trends from yesterday.

Last year, our 311 Contact Centre received 626,187 calls with an average wait time of 11 minutes and 42 seconds. The top three reasons people called us were for bus schedules, Assessment & Taxation inquiries, or with questions that were about non-City services.

We continue to add more self-service online forms that can be filled out on your computer or phone and currently have more than 25 available. This includes ones on problems with peggomalfunctioning traffic signalsadvising us of a tree concern, and reporting parking violations. You can see the list, which changes seasonally, by using the Apply/Register/Report dropdown menu under service requests on the 311 website

While bus schedule information is the top reason people call 311, this information is more easily found through the new Winnipeg Transit app or on the recently revamped Winnipeg Transit website.

“If you do need to call 311, please remember to be as detailed as possible and keep in mind that our 311 staff are not responsible for your issue and they are not personally doing the investigation,” said Wiltshire. “Please treat our 311 staff with respect.”

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