Bratislava launches rapid intervention service to address civic complaints

Grievances about the condition of roads and greenery can be resolved within 72 hours

To speed up the processing of civic complaints related to the maintenance of greenery and roads in the Slovak capital, Bratislava city council has launched a Rýchle Zásahy (Rapid Interventions) service, through which it hopes to resolve such grievances within 72 hours.

Speaking on the occasion, the Mayor of Bratislava Matúš Vallo said, as quoted by the city website: "Unfortunately, some repairs in the city cannot be carried out overnight. But there are minor shortcomings that can be dealt with efficiently within 72 hours of reporting them. We will be very happy if, thanks to your attention, we can bring quick but important improvements in your neighbourhood."

9 categories

Operating from 1 September, Rapid Interventions responds to warnings grouped in 9 categories according to their focus. These cover complaints of insufficiently mowed lawns, dry greenery in an emergency condition, broken tree branches in an emergency condition, uncut roadway greenery, overcrowded or damaged baskets, missing or damaged sewer covers, dirty sidewalks, roads, cycle paths and stairs, damaged vertical road markings, and malfunctioning traffic lights.

Complaints can be reported via a form available in Slovak and English on Bratislava’s website.

The report needs to be accompanied by at least one photograph of how the object of complaint currently looks like, in order to identify its location and condition, and verify the credibility of the complaint. 

Message for the mayor

The Rapid Interventions service has been created in cooperation with the website Odkaz pre Starostu (Message for the Mayor). It was launched in 2010 by the Slovak Governance Institute, a non-profit and non-partisan civic association, with the aim of enabling citizens to report deficiencies in the public space. Apart from Bratislava, other Slovak municipalities also use the website.