The work done to connect the Spadina subway’s Spadina station with its Bloor-Danforth counterpart may not have been the only reason why this station was renamed Spadina from Lowther. Some reports indicate that the name was changed in case the University subway still did not prove financially viable.
From 1969 to 1978, the University subway was closed Mondays to Saturdays at 9:45 p.m. and all day Sundays and holidays. If this arrangement had to continue, Spadina Station would have to be used as the southern terminal station of the Spadina line (although it would have been far more convenient for passengers to transfer to the Bloor-Danforth subway at St. George).
This is why a crossover was installed just to the north of the station and “Spadina” installed on the subway rollsigns. Thus by naming the station ‘Spadina’ people would be able to connect the station in their minds with the Bloor-Danforth subway far more readily than a ‘Lowther’ terminal.
However, the opening of the Spadina line and increasing overcrowding on the Yonge line increased ridership on the University line, so these precautions proved unnecessary.