Reported NYC - 311 Made Easy

I love the idea for this app, unfortunately it usually does not work. It often won’t let me upload a photo, when when I do it tweets it out but it says that all my submissions to 311 are “pending”. I’m not confident that they’re even being sent into the city. I would love an update to get this app working again, it could be a tremendous asset.

I downloaded this app after a neighbor in my co-op recommended it to me to report traffic violations like illegally parked cars. I downloaded it yesterday after remembering that I had photographs of an illegally parked car that stalled my bus this past weekend by parking ahead of the bus in the bus stop. On the one hand, it is simple to report photos from the past incident on the app. On the other hand, location services is a mess. I initially disallowed location services because the location occurrence was on a bus four or so days ago, so I figured I was going to type it in. This cause an error message; the app would not let me type in the address. Then I tried temporarily “allowing once” location services. Same no-go error. Finally, I allowed it permanently, and rather than letting me pick the intersection and address on the map, the app forced me to use my current address, which was at home, not where I was on the bus. I suppose that is good for in-the-moment reports, but if you are on a moving vehicle - like a bus - without wi-fi, or on a bike and not trying to use your phone while riding, then this is impractical. Also, forcing me to use the location from which I am reporting to the app, and not allowing me to pick an intersection, means the tweet and hashtags and photo map are all published incorrectly. I ended up getting a response from the City in a few hours after my complaint, only to receive the wrong area’s response because the app had the wrong location tags. Two stars for a poorly thought out complaint form.

As a cyclist I have my life almost ended daily by these so-called "professional" TLC drivers who operate their vehicles outside the law in a manner which shows they have no concern whatsoever for other road users. Everyone's long since given up hoping for the NYPD to police the roads, but finally we have a chance to police them ourselves. The app is designed very well and makes it easy to not only report lawless drivers but also to track the outcomes as well. The fact that taxi drivers hate this app just shows how effective it's being. They talk to each other about it on forums and message groups, and word is getting round that we're out there. After having spent a couple of months reporting every TLC bike lane blockage I come across while cycling in my neighborhood, I've started to notice a change in behavior and have less blockages to report. They are warning each other not to stop in the bike lanes because of how many fines they've gotten, and this is exactly the intended effect of the app! Now the choice for them is clear - either respect the law and stop risking lives, otherwise it's going to cost you a pretty penny. A major force in the fight against reckless driving in this city and I just hope it isn't long before we can report all other kinds of drivers too.