‘Tis the season, when crews armed with leaf blowers and rakes roam the District, collecting nature’s bounty of compostable foliage. In other words, leaf sweeping season. This year, the D.C. Department of Public Works is trying out a new, more flexible — possibly more confusing — way of scheduling when crews will hit your street.

In past years, DPW attempted to collect leaves from every inch of city streets based on a fixed schedule planned in advance. Residents would be notified through a mailed brochure of dates when crews would be on their street. Turns out, it’s pretty hard to keep on a fixed schedule like that, given the vagaries of mother nature.

“We actually heard the people, we heard what they were saying: It did not work,” says DPW Director Timothy Spriggs.

This year, Spriggs says residents will be notified via door hangers two weeks before leaf collection comes to their street. Residents are asked to rake their leaves into the tree boxes or edge of the curb prior to the crew’s arrival. Residents can use a real-time, interactive map to check leaf sweeping status. In addition to showing streets that have and have not been swept, the tracker tells you when you need to sweep leaves to the curb based on your address. Residents can also call 202-671-LEAF to hear the information via a new hotline. The hotline is updated every Friday afternoon at 5pm.

“We’re going to give it a try. We believe that this is a much better way than we had historically in the past,” Spriggs says.

Meanwhile, weekly street sweeping, and the associated parking restrictions, ends on Oct. 31. Street sweeping starts up again in March.

On the first morning of the new leaf collection regime, a crew got started on a street in Columbia Heights, where sidewalks were covered with bright orange and red maple leaves. Using rakes and electric leaf blowers, workers pushed leaves into the street, then a truck towing a giant leaf vacuum passed by, sucking up the line of leaves. It was efficiently executed. It was also relatively quiet and free of air pollution, thanks to D.C.’s gas-powered leaf blower ban that went into effect last year.

But, on this first day, the resident notification system didn’t seem to be fully functional.

“I’m glad to see that they came around and did this,” says William Phillips, who stood outside his row house watching the operation. But he says he did not get a door hanger or mailer or any other notification. “Not that I know of. Nobody else had a warning.”

The online tracker, though, did seem to be working properly: shortly after the crew finished the street in Columbia Heights, the street turned green on the interactive map, indicated it had been swept.

“We’re trying to do better,” says Spriggs. “Not that we’re perfect, but we’re always looking for ways to improve.”

DPW has 250 workers assigned to leaf collection this year, split into 11 crews. They have 100 battery-powered leaf blowers and 44 giant leaf vacs. After they are collected, the leaves are trucked out of the District to be composted.

Spriggs says the electric leaf blowers are not as powerful as the gas-powered ones.

“It takes a little bit more time, but hey, it is what it is, and we’re going to go pick up the leaves.”

Residents can report missed collections or other problems through 311.