Time makes a lot more sense than stops: for example, at Columbus Circle in NYC, a downtown A train that's one stop away is about 3.5 miles out. A downtown 1 train that's one stop away is less than a half mile out. Except if the downtown A train is running local, in which case it's then about a half mile out.
Time, on the other hand, can be meaningfully displayed to a rider no matter what information they already know. (It's also fairly accurate in practice in my experience.)
It's accurate as long as trains are moving. As soon as they are stalled, that time stops reflecting the real one. So showing the distance at least gives a more appropriate info, instead of showing "5 min" for 15 minutes (which is annoying).
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Time makes a lot more sense than stops: for example, at Columbus Circle in NYC, a downtown A train that's one stop away is about 3.5 miles out. A downtown 1 train that's one stop away is less than a half mile out. Except if the downtown A train is running local, in which case it's then about a half mile out.
Time, on the other hand, can be meaningfully displayed to a rider no matter what information they already know. (It's also fairly accurate in practice in my experience.)
It's accurate as long as trains are moving. As soon as they are stalled, that time stops reflecting the real one. So showing the distance at least gives a more appropriate info, instead of showing "5 min" for 15 minutes (which is annoying).