Locate Volume Trends

April Volume

The COVID-19 outbreak had a large impact on the amount of locates being requested. As most requests focused on work for the Ontario government’s essential services list, requests in April were far below normal volumes. Ontario One Call had a 37% decrease in locate requests compared to the previous year. Chart 1-1 (below) shows the volume of requests that were submitted.

Chart 1-1
The below chart shows data from April 1st – 30th.

May Volume

With Premier Ford’s announcement on May 4th, loosening restrictions on construction projects, Ontario One Call saw an immediate jump in locate requests. The volume sustained, and comparing 2019 to 2020 (see chart 1-2) the first three weeks of May showed a return to seasonal request volumes.

There was a notable increase in the last week of May, with an approximate 20% increase in volume compared to the same period in 2019.  As of May 28th (available data at publishing), the total locate volume in May increased by approximately 6% over the previous year.

Chart 1-2
The below chart shows data from May 1st – 28th.