Out-of-service elevator leaves mother struggling with stroller and children at Parliament station

Alice Hui stands in front of the Parliament LRT station entrance at the corner of Queen and O'Connor. Hui helped a mother and her children navigate a set of stairs while an elevator was out for weeks. Photo by JEAN LEVAC /POSTMEDIA

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A transit user says she encountered a mother with two small children struggling to negotiate a stairway at Parliament Station — eight days after a 92-year-old man fell on the same stairs.

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On April 16, after the man’s fall resulted in an ambulance being dispatched to the transit station, Alice Hui helped a mother with two preschoolers — one a toddler — struggling to get a double stroller and the two children down the stairs that led to the train platform.

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At the time, one of the elevators that leads to the platform was out of service. The elevator had been having problems since early March and had been out of service since the middle of that month. There was another elevator, but transit users apparently don’t know about it because it’s behind another fare gate that won’t allow users in if they have already swiped their card.

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In order to get from the concourse level to the train platform and tracks, the woman had to leave the children at the top of the stairs and “hope they don’t tumble down the stairs,” Hui noted.

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“Then she had to carry the stroller down to the platform and train tracks and sprint back up the stairs to get the youngest child, then run back up the stairs and get the older child — who was still young enough to be using a bottle.”

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It was very dangerous situation and a huge liability for OC Transpo, said Hui. It was a miracle the two children didn’t tumble down the entire flight of stairs to the train platform, she said.

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And this wasn’t the woman’s first time negotiating the stars with a double stroller and two small children.

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“The woman told me that she has no alternative mode of transportation and cannot take a bus, which would take at least an hour longer, as it will make her late for work and vulnerable in her job, and she is constrained by child care needs and times,” said Hui.

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“So, for over a month, she has been doing this dangerous workaround while the elevator has been out of commission.”

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Hui sent a complaint to OC Transpo and received a response acknowledging her concern about fare gate access after a card had already been tapped.

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“This safeguard is in place to prevent multiple customers from using the same pass to enter a fare-paid zone,” said OC Transpo. “If you need to re-enter through the fare gates after tapping, please wait approximately five minutes before tapping your card again; the gates should then open.”

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Hui said the response did not address the point she wanted to make: if OC Transpo needs to point out that an alternative measure is available, then clear signage at the stairs, in front of the accessible fare gate before they swipe in and at the broken elevator are necessary.

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“I would like them to have a plan in place for the next time. The first incident happened and they didn’t make an changes,” she said. “Multiple people didn’t seem to know there’s another elevator.”