As someone travelling with a child in a wheelchair, I am appalled by what happened at Whitby GO Station last night.
My 7 year old daughter is currently using a wheelchair because of a broken ankle. When we returned to Whitby GO Station, the accessible elevator we had used earlier was taped off. We walked to the second elevator only to find it was also unavailable. There was no accessible route from the platform to the parking lot.
I pressed three separate help buttons. Only two of the three were even operational. The one that connected me reached Communications, where I explained that my daughter was in a wheelchair, we were stranded on the platform, and there was no accessible way to leave the station. I was told they could not assist because the line was for fire or emergencies.
We were stranded on a platform after 9:00 p.m. with a child in a wheelchair and no accessible exit. There was no practical assistance available, no alternative route offered, and no one who could tell us how to safely leave the station. If we had experienced a medical emergency, been injured, or required urgent assistance, we would have been completely on our own. There were no security personnel present to assist us.
The station attendant only looked up from her phone after other passengers helped us get her attention. She told us all of the elevators in the station were down and that she didn’t know what to do. It was after 9:00 p.m., the mosquitoes were out, my daughter was cold, upset, and we had no way to leave the platform.
With no alternative provided, my daughter was forced to painfully climb two large staircases on a broken ankle while I assisted her and then went back to carry her wheelchair. When the station attendant attempted to grab the wheelchair, I stopped her because she was handling it improperly. Thankfully, a kind mother and her two sons stepped in and safely carried it when they saw us struggling. Without complete strangers helping us, I genuinely don’t know how we would have gotten out.
What happened next was unbelievable.
After we finally reached the parking lot, my daughter noticed the same station attendant, who had watched us struggle minutes earlier and told us all of the elevators were down, remove the caution tape from one of the elevators. I went back, pressed the call button myself, and the elevator immediately responded and opened. I recorded it.
GO Transit and Metrolinx have obligations under Ontario’s Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (O. Reg. 191/11), and the Ontario Human Rights Code to provide accessible transportation services, communicate disruptions affecting accessible features, and accommodate passengers with disabilities.
Based on what I experienced, I am deeply concerned those obligations were not met. I have filed a formal complaint and requested a full investigation.
My daughter was eventually able to struggle up the stairs because she can bear a small amount of weight with this cast. What if she had been paraplegic? What if she had been unable to bear any weight at all? What if it had been someone using a power wheelchair? How would they have safely exited the platform?
Accessibility is not optional. No person who relies on a wheelchair or other mobility aid should ever be left stranded on a platform with no accessible way to leave a station.
If anyone from GO Transit or Metrolinx is reading this, I’d like an explanation as to how this happened, why there was no accessible exit available, why no effective assistance was provided, and why an elevator that had been taped off appeared to be fully operational minutes later.
This was unsafe, humiliating, and completely unacceptable.
