JOHANNESBURG – The Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) officially launching its Find and Fix mobile app on Wednesday May 14.
This ground-breaking innovation – the first of its kind in the country, continent and entire Southern Hemisphere – seeks to create a partnership between Joburg citizens and the Agency by providing the latest technology with which to report any road-related defect at the click of a button.
The Find and Fix app will enable the public to report potholes, faulty traffic signals, storm water drains, manhole covers, and other infrastructure issues related to JRA.
“The launch of this new smartphone app forms part of the JRA’s turnaround strategy and service delivery drive. The organisation is committed to becoming more accessible to citizens and road users and to developing itself into a centre of engineering excellence with enhanced service delivery and satisfied customers,” said Skhumbuzo Macozoma, JRA Managing Director.
The Agency recently launched a service delivery drive termed the ‘Just tell us’ campaign, which supports the City’s Active Citizenry priority focus to promote active involvement of citizens in the City’s service delivery activities. The campaign provides multiple contact points for the community to actively engage the JRA and report any road related matter. The contact points include email, Twitter, Facebook, a new service delivery mailbox for service issues, as well as the new mobile app.
The Find and Fix app – tagged as ‘snap it, send it, and we’ll fix it’ – is freely downloadable for most mobile operating system platforms such as Windows Phone 8, Android and iOS for Apple. The app provides an accurate location with GPS coordinates, and makes it easy to provide photo evidence, which compliments the JRA’s ability to plan repairs more scientifically, based on reports and data received, thereby enhancing efficiency and increasing productivity.
For citizens, the Find and Fix app enables on-going communication on service progress, facilitates faster turnaround times, and also allows for media alerts on hotspots and pre-reported issues in a specific journey area.
The app will also assist to ensure that Joburg, one of Africa’s largest economic hubs, will benefit from improved road infrastructure due to faster call logging, and fixing turnaround times that translates into significant benefits for the economy.
“This exciting and innovative app has already been nominated for a global Microsoft Partner of the Year Award. The JRA Find and Fix app positions the City and the JRA at the forefront of technology and innovation – truly embodying the City’s tagline to be ‘A world class African City’, a great achievement benefitting the community at large,” Macozoma concluded.
The JRA encourages residents to report all road and storm water related issues, including potholes, to 0860 562 874/ hotline@jra.org.za / twitter @MyJra./ and the new JRA Find and Fix app.
