Does this neighborhood need the stop more?
Since I proposed closing the Third Ave L stop, about 20,000 people have supported the idea online. Many others have objected, with thoughtful reasoning.
The most common worry is very important: what about those on Third Ave that need the train most? Older residents, those with disabilities, families with less money, kids getting to school.
To answer it, every station in the city was measured the same way: who lives closest, who rides, and what is nearby. The numbers for 3rd Ave are below.
The short version. Closing this stop would ask something of the people nearest it, including about 1,760 older residents and 690 people with disabilities. But those needs exist on nearly every block in New York, and they are smaller here than around most stations. Third Ave is in the bottom decile for disability: 5% of residents have one, against 12% citywide. The station also has no elevator, so the people who struggle most with stairs already use Union Sq or First Ave. Schools are the one exception, but for the largest school building the next station is only 28 meters farther.
A fair worry is that a change like this would push the cost onto communities that already carry more. Here it would not: on average, the people who would walk farther are wealthier, younger, and less diverse than the riders along the rest of the L. If Third Ave closed, the average resident would be 419 meters from a station, which is still closer than 63% of New Yorkers are today. The neighborhood would keep better subway access than most of the city, and about 195,000 trips a day would get faster.
Who Lives Nearest
About 12,450 people live closer to Third Ave than to any other station. The table compares them to neighboring First Ave and New York at large.
| People near 3rd Ave | 3rd Ave | 1st Ave | Typical station | New York City | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 1,760 | 14.1% | 15.7% | 14.7% | 16.6% |
| Aged 65 or older, living alone | 760 | 14.3% | 16.6% | 11.0% | 12.3% |
| Living with a disability | 690 | 5.4% | 12.0% | 11.4% | 12.4% |
| Serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs | 310 | 2.5% | 5.5% | 6.9% | 7.6% |
| Below the poverty line | 1,440 | 13.4% | 15.7% | 17.4% | 17.9% |
| Under 18 | 1,100 | 8.8% | 10.5% | 19.4% | 20.2% |
| Typical household income | $198k | $120k | $79k | $81k |
The largest number in each row is bold. “Typical station” is the middle value across all stations. “Living alone” is counted in households.
Older neighbors. About 1,760 people are 65 or older, and about 760 of them live alone. For some, a longer walk is a real cost. Their share of the neighborhood is about the same as around a typical station and a little below the city's. Older people living alone are somewhat more common here than around a typical station.
Neighbors with disabilities. About 690 people here live with a disability, and about 310 have serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs. Extra distance matters most to them. They are 5% of residents, against 12% citywide, and only 20 of 408 station areas have a smaller share.
No elevator. Third Ave only has one entrance for each direction, a staircase. Anyone who uses a wheelchair, or cannot manage stairs, cannot use the station today. They already go to Union Sq or First Ave, where elevators reach the L platform.
Neighbors with less money. About 1,440 people here live below the poverty line. For them the subway is not optional. They are 13% of residents, against 18% citywide. The typical household here earns about $198k, more than twice the city's $81k.
Schools And Hospitals
This is where Third Ave stands out. There are nine schools closer to it than to any other station, about twice what a typical station has. Six schools share one building at 40 Irving Place, which is 262 meters from 3rd Ave and 290 meters from the next closest station. Two schools would be noticeably farther: the Jack and Jill School and Friends Seminary, about 200 meters more each.
Three hospitals and clinics are also closest to Third Ave, where some patients have trouble walking or seeing. Each would be 38 to 63 meters farther from a station.
| Type | Walk to 3rd Ave | Walk to next station | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Jack and Jill School at St. George's Church | Day care | 164 m | 404 m | +240 m |
| New York Eye & Ear Outpatient Center | Hospital clinic | 188 m | 251 m | +63 m |
| Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day High School | School | 257 m | 287 m | +30 m |
| 6 schools at 40 Irving Place | School | 262 m | 290 m | +28 m |
| Beginnings Nursery School, Inc. | Day care | 262 m | 290 m | +28 m |
| Friends Seminary | School | 270 m | 464 m | +194 m |
| Society of Third Street Music School Settlement | Day care | 396 m | 444 m | +48 m |
| NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital | Hospital | 448 m | 486 m | +38 m |
| NYU Langone Rutherford | Hospital clinic | 463 m | 524 m | +61 m |
| PS of the Arts | Day care | 586 m | 624 m | +38 m |
| LearningSpring School | School | 630 m | 637 m | +7 m |
Walks are measured along streets from the nearest station entrance.
Who Rides Today
Living near a station and using it are different things. The MTA records how each rider pays: a reduced fare for seniors and people with disabilities, Fair Fares for low-income riders, or a student pass. On a normal day those account for about 170, 130, and 210 entries at 3rd Ave. Each is a smaller share of riders than at a typical station.
| 3rd Ave | 1st Ave | Typical L stop | Typical station | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senior or disability fare | 3.2% | 3.6% | 3.6% | 5.8% |
| Fair Fares (low income) | 2.5% | 2.9% | 3.7% | 5.0% |
| Student pass | 3.9% | 5.0% | 6.1% | 8.6% |
| All entries per day | 5,270 | 20,570 | 5,900 | 4,430 |
These fares undercount, because many older and lower-income riders pay full fare. That is true at every station, so the comparison is still fair.
Race, Language, And Who Carries The Cost
Transit decisions in American cities have often landed hardest on Black, Latino, and immigrant neighborhoods. So federal civil rights law asks a question of any change to service: does the cost fall more heavily on people of color, people with low incomes, or people who speak limited English? This section applies that test.
About 4,200 people of color live closest to Third Ave. Asian residents are a larger share here than citywide, and four in five households have no car. The people who would save time are the riders passing through, traveling along the rest of the L from Eighth Ave to Canarsie. About 302,900 people live nearest those 23 stations.
| Would walk farther (3rd Ave) | Would save time (rest of the L) | |
|---|---|---|
| People of color | 33.9% | 61.9% |
| Black | 3.8% | 18.9% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 8.2% | 28.6% |
| Asian | 16.9% | 8.0% |
| Speak limited English | 7.4% | 12.9% |
| Households with no car | 80.8% | 68.3% |
| Below the poverty line | 13.4% | 17.1% |
| Living with a disability | 5.4% | 10.8% |
| Typical household income | $198k | $105k |
Along the rest of the L, a larger share of residents are Black or Latino, and a larger share speak limited English, live in poverty, or have a disability. By this test, the cost does not fall on communities that already carry more.
“People of color” means everyone except non-Hispanic white residents, the definition federal transit rules use.
The Bottom Line
Every need on this page is real. They are also real everywhere. Nearly every block in New York has an older neighbor, someone who struggles with stairs, a family stretching a paycheck, and a school down the street. If that were reason enough for a subway stop, every block would have one, and no train would get anywhere.
So the fair question is not whether people here need the train. It is whether they need it more than people elsewhere, enough to ask everyone else on the train to stop for them.
Today the average person living nearest Third Ave is 260 meters from a station. If it closed, that would be 419 meters. About 5.5 million New Yorkers, 63% of the city, already live farther than that.
If something is missing here, it is worth hearing. Tell me, or read the full case for closing the stop.
How this was measured
Each resident is counted at the station that is the shortest street walk from their block, so nobody is counted twice. Resident figures are estimates from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, 2020 to 2024, and for an area this small they can be off by a point or two. Riders: MTA Subway Hourly Ridership, January to August 2026. Schools and hospitals: NYC Facilities Database. Elevators: MTA Subway Stations. The equity test is the one set out under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The script that computes every number on this page, and its output for all 445 station complexes, is on GitHub.