(05-29-2015, 10:08 AM)Markster Wrote: Well, I guess Toronto better close Bay subway station...
I use the Bloor subway as a comparison for a reason. It's got stop spacing as tight as 450m in the core, expanding to 600m on the fringe, 800m in the outer areas, and +1km at the ends. For the record, a Highland-Courtland-King stop spacing is 700m between stops.
I'm not sure it's the most appropriate comparison; I certainly wasn't referring to the Bloor subway line when I referred to 500 meter spacing as very tight, so don't read into it that I think Bay station should be closed or anything else.
A subway system is different from a bus system operating in mixed traffic with on-board fare payment. There is a significant time penalty every time a bus has to slow down, merge out of traffic, wait to unload passengers, wait for passengers to get on and pay their fares. If we're talking about that stretch specifically, I would say that stop spacing makes logical sense given the trip generators there. In general, though, I think there's a lot to be said for wider spacing given the impact on speed and the cost of it. As the post you linked to mentions, GRT has until very recently had far too many stops. I still don't think it has the opposite problem.
Regarding the wide stop spacing you mention at the ends of the Bloor line, a subway station can't be compared to a bus stop that may not even have a shelter or even a bench. A subway station is a huge investment; they can not be built where ridership won't eventually justify them. A bus stop is an investment, but tiny relative to a subway station. I am not in favour of a strong focus on coverage if it means making sure everyone has crummy service, but if a bus line is going to go through a relatively sparse area, I think that it sometimes makes sense to give that sparse area more stops, since they are relatively low capital investment, and relatively infrequently going to result in delays (since relatively few people use them), but still serve goals of coverage. That's not true in denser areas, where 500 meter stop spacing might result in stopping every 500 meters, every time.