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The Development of Mobile Integrated Customer Service Offices

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Hungary

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Central & local administrationGovernanceInnovative

Organisation name Prime Minister’s Office State Secretariat for Territorial Public Administration

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Contact person: Tamás Pilz dr

david.kojsza@me.gov.hu

Aiming to become a strong service provider state, the development of a government window system began on 1 January 2011, which has extended both its number and functions since then. Today, 305 government windows provide high-quality, one-stop shop customer services. The launch of the Government Windows Programme induced a year-by-year increase in the number of customers visiting the government windows, and the need to extend the service provision further became obvious. This non-stop development work constituted the foundation of a relationship based on mutual trust between the Hungarian state and the Hungarian people.

The most important step in the expansion of services was the creation of Mobile Integrated Customer Service Offices (Government Window Buses). Its main objective was to offer easier and quicker access to government window services for citizens living in small settlements, with special regard to the elderly and handicapped people. The idea of setting up government window buses was to provide a solution for those living in small settlements who were having difficulty in reaching even the nearest government window by car or public transport.

As of April 2021, 305 government windows are staying at the disposal of the customers across the country, and this number is still increasing. However, at present approximately one-third of the country’s population, that is, 3 553 459 people, live in settlements without government windows. This concerns 2905 townships, 92% of the total settlements in Hungary. The 305 government windows are placed in 249 municipalities, and 6 404 272 citizens live in municipalities that have obtained at least one government window. In view of these ratios it was an important task to provide citizens not having integrated customer service at their place of residence with an efficient, fast and flexible solution.

Today, the average distance of settlements to the nearest government window is approximately 14 km, but travel back and forth can significantly increase the time spent on administration, especially by means of public transport. In the course of taking public transport, it may be difficult to reconcile the timetable and the opening hours of the government window, which may even create a situation where it is either not possible to get to the government window in the other settlement during opening hours, or there is no longer a bus or train leaving for the place of residence after completing the administration.

To extend customer service activities, in 2014 NISZ National ICT Services, and in 2017 the Government Office of Csongrád County, launched the pilot operation of two mobile government window buses. In 2018 the service became available for the citizens in 10 more counties with 11+1 vehicles.

In view of the ever-increasing customer traffic and the popularity of the service, the fleet was extended in October 2020, and the service is available in 19 counties (with two buses in Heves County,) and in Budapest. Accordingly, all municipalities are covered by government window buses. In 2021, an additional four new buses were to be developed and deployed, and the purchase of further new buses is planned in the coming years.

The government window buses can serve as a model for any organisation or service provider developing customer services for citizens living in small rural settlements, helping them in their daily life and bringing the customer services closer.

When the Government Window Bus Programme was introduced, a long-term goal of providing services by a high-quality and sustainable vehicle fleet was set. The results are underpinned by the fact that the vehicles that started their operation in 2017 and 2018 are still performing and satisfying all needs, so no replacement of them has been necessary despite their heavy usage.

The main advantage of the government window buses is that they are capable of providing administrational opportunities in more than 2500 types of cases in the parking area of a mall, train station or hospital or other place, such as in the rear of the city hall. To do so, they are equipped with photo boxes which provide the opportunity to make high-quality digital pictures to personal identification documents (e.g. ID cards, passports, driving licence). In special cases (e.g. the name of a public place changes so the residence cards need to be changed) the buses are quickly adaptable.

According to the statistics, in 2018 11 701 people, in 2019 22 942 people, in 2020 31 162 people administered their cases using government window buses which indicates a 266% increase in the client attendance rate of these buses. The increasing number of places visited by the buses catalysed the growing client attendance rate as well. Overall, the government window buses visited 858 places in 2018, 2982 places in 2019 and 2890 places in 2020, which indicates a three-times increase over the period.

Opening hours indicate increasing trends as well. The annual opening hours of the government window buses were 1924 hours in 2018, 5341 hours in 2019 and 4744 hours in 2020, which means a more than 2.5 times increase in two years (due to the Covid-19 pandemic the buses were out of order in particular months of 2020). The upward trends of statistics clearly underpin the popularity of the government window buses and that clients are happy to receive services at the settlement they are living in, and at different events.

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