This idea computes.
A software engineer’s viral plan to close the L train’s Third Avenue station in Manhattan claims subway riders would save a combined 1,800 hours a day if trains skipped the stop.
Computing commuter Joshua Wolk, 23, created the website Stop the Stop to argue for shuttering the station, which sits just a five-minute walk from the neighboring First Avenue and Union Square stops — both of which draw substantially more riders.
Wolk, who lives in Stuyvesant Town and uses the First Avenue stop, started crunching the numbers after noticing how few people got off at Third Avenue and a friend told him they had noticed the same thing.
“I think it’s always been such a looming question among L train riders,” Wolk told The Post.
He used the MTA’s publicly available data on about 700 million trips from January through August, matched it with subway timetables and simulated what would happen if — one by one — 356 stations were removed.
Third Avenue offered the biggest projected payoff with 1,824 hours saved daily across riders — even after counting each extra minute of walking as twice as burdensome as a minute on the train.
About 11,200 people use the station daily, his estimate showed.
While the removal of Third Avenue stop posted the largest benefit, other stops where removal would grant sizable time savings include 138th Street-Grand Concourse on the 4 and 5 lines — which he estimates would save riders 1,118 hours daily.
“I found that a lot of people were surprised by some stations but there are a lot of variables that go into it,” Wolk said. “Proximity to other stations was one of the biggest factors.”
Closing Hunters Point Avenue stop on the 7 line could save riders as many as 1,024 hours, according to the calculations.
Also on the L, closing Grand Street stop would save riders around 939 hours each day, while eliminating Graham Avenue would save around 391, according to the analysis.
But the analysis also showed that axing some stops would make commutes drastically longer.
Removing First Avenue would add 6,453 hours to riders’ daily trips, his analysis found.
Closing the A, C and E stop at 34th Street-Penn Station would be the worst move, adding nearly 22,000 hours, while eliminating 72nd Street on the Q would add more than 10,000.
Wolk said he has collected about 500 signatures for a petition seeking a trial closure of Third Avenue.
He has spoken at a Community Board 3 meeting — with his comments widely circulated on social media — and is corresponding with a local representative, but hasn’t talked with the MTA.
“I’d really ask them to look at the outpouring of support for closing this station,” he said. “There’s been a lot of vibrant discussion online. It really goes both ways but I think what’s clear is that New Yorkers are interested in this proposal.”
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