How Much Have 311 Service Requests Changed During the COVID-19 Pandemic in New York City?
311 is a service that according to the New York City (NYC) government, “handles all requests for government and non-emergency services, connecting residents, business owners, and visitors with the information and people who can help them best” (NYC311). The dataset used is 311 Service Requests from 2010 to Present and is from NYC OpenData. The metrics for this comparison are the Complaint Type, Agency Name, and Borough.
In order to find out if 311 service requests changed during the COVID-19 pandemic in NYC, we compared 311 data from significant dates in 2020 to the 311 data on those same dates in 2019. The COVID-19 Daily Counts of Cases, Hospitalizations, and Deaths NYC dataset from NYC OpenData was used to find what days had the highest number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. The day with the most hospitalizations so far was March 30th, with 1,831 hospitalizations. The day with the most reported cases was April 6th, 2020 with 6,364 cases, and the day with the most deaths was April 7th 2020 with 599 deaths. The 311 data from these dates during the pandemic were compared to 311 data on those same days in 2019.
March 30th — The Day of the COVID-19 Pandemic with the Most Hospitalizations in NYC
In 2019 on this date, the three agencies who responded to the most service requests were the New York Police Department (NYPD), the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), and the Department of Sanitation (DSNY).
In 2020 on this date, the three agencies who responded to the most service requests were the NYPD, the HPD, and the Department of Transportation (DOT). The NYPD had 26% more service requests on this day in 2019 than on this day in 2020. HPD had 11% less service requests on this day in 2019 than on this date in 2020. The agency with the third most service requests on this date in 2019, the DSNY, had 23% more requests than the agency with the third most requests on March 30th 2020, the DOT.
On March 30th, 2020, the three boroughs with the most service requests were Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan. On this day in 2019 the three boroughs with the most service requests were Brooklyn with 30% more requests than in 2020, Queens with 52% more requests than in 2020, and Manhattan with 22% more requests than in 2020.
April 6th — The Day of the COVID-19 Pandemic with the Most Cases in NYC
On April 6th 2019, there were 27% more requests than the same date in 2020. The three most common requests in 2019 were Noise-Residential, Illegal Parking, and Noise — Street/Sidewalk, while in 2020 they were Non-Emergency Police Matter, Noise — Residential, and Consumer Complaint.
In 2019 on this date, the three agencies who responded to the most service requests were the NYPD, the HPD, and the Department of Environment Protection (DEP), whereas, in 2020, the three agencies who responded to the most service requests were the NYPD, the HPD, and the DOT. The NYPD had 10% more service requests on this day in 2019 than on this day in 2020. HPD had 32% more service requests on this day in 2019 than on this date in 2020. The DEP with 30% more requests than the agency with third most requests in 2020 on April 6th, the DOT.
The three boroughs with the most service requests on April 6th 2020 were Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Bronx. On this day in 2019, the three boroughs with the most service requests were Brooklyn, with 18% more requests than this date in 2020, Queens, with 31% more requests than Manhattan on this date in 2020, and Manhattan, with 43% more requests than the Bronx in 2020.
April 7th — The Day of the COVID-19 Pandemic with the Most Deaths in NYC
On April 7th 2019, there were 31% more requests than in 2020. The three most common requests in 2019 were Noise-Residential, Illegal Parking, and Request Large Bulky Item Collection while, in 2020 they were Non-Emergency Police Matter, Noise — Residential, and Consumer Complaint.
In 2019 on this date, the three agencies who responded to the most service requests were the NYPD, the HPD, and the DSNY. In 2020 on this date, the three agencies who responded to the most service requests were the NYPD, the HPD, and the DOT. The NYPD had 15% more service requests on this day in 2019 than on this day in 2020. HPD had 17% more service requests on this day in 2019 than on this date in 2020. The DSNY had 55% more requests than the agency with the third most requests in 2020, the DOT.
The three boroughs with the most service requests on April 7th 2020 were Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. On this day in 2019, the three boroughs with the most service requests were Brooklyn, with 35% more requests than Brooklyn had on this date in 2020, Queens, with 39% more requests than Manhattan on this date in 2020, and Manhattan, with 27% more requests than Queens on this date in 2020.
Results
All the days had more service requests in 2019 than in 2020, with the days in 2019 getting an average of 28% more service requests than these days in 2020. The two most common complaints were the same across the days in 2020, and the most common complaint was the same across all three days in 2019. The most common complaint across all the three days in 2019 and in 2020 was Noise — Residential, which accounted for 44% of all the requests in the six different days.
The NYPD was the agency with the most service requests on all days looked at in 2020 and in 2019. The average difference in the amount of complaints between the days in 2020 and days in 2019 for the NYPD was 17% less for the days in 2020.
The borough with the most complaints across the days in 2020 and 2019 was Brooklyn. Overall Brooklyn saw more requests in 2019 than in 2020 on the days in this comparison. Brooklyn on average saw 28% less requests in 2020 on these days compared to in 2019.
Although the data shows that there is a sharp decrease in the amount of service requests from May 30th 2020 to April 6th and 7th 2020, this decline is also observed in 2019 on the same days, which means it is unlikely to be related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The data does show that all three days in 2020 had less service requests than those days in 2019, across all the metrics used for this comparison.
