[URBAN NOTE] "To interchange or not to interchange: Spadina vs. St. George?"

[rfmcdonald]

Shoshanna Saxe at Spacing Toronto took a look at the TTC's two western interchanges, Spadina and St. George. Apparently Spadina, despite the greater distance between the north-south and west-east lines, provides quicker transit.

According to Google Maps it takes 1 minute to travel from Spadina Station to St. George Station by TTC. Given that seconds could make a difference in this comparison I decided to measure it the old fashioned way, with a stop watch. I timed from the ringing of the door chimes at one station to stepping off the train at the next. On average, it took me 1 minute and 40 seconds to travel between St.George and Spadina Stations on the north-south Spadina Line and 1 minute and 4 seconds on the east-west Bloor Line. I also walked back and forth between the platforms at Spadina Station where on average it took me 2 minutes and 24 seconds, measured from platform to platform. I walked with purpose but made sure to never run and I was carrying a bag. The wait time once on the platform is on average half the head time between trains. At rush hour in Toronto that is 1 minute and 10.5 seconds. At St. George Stations I have assumed people would rarely miss a train while going up and down the stairs; I am assuming that if the train is in the station most people run for it so I have ignored the time needed to change platforms at St. George Station.

By my measurement, switching at St. George Station is 20 seconds or 14% slower than taking the walk at Spadina Station. None-the-less, changing at St. George may feel faster to many people; the extra time is spent moving on trains rather than walking through a somewhat drab tunnel. Over the course of a year someone changing at Spadina Station as part of a daily commute would save almost 3 hours.