OC Transpo elevators often down

Many failures make travel tough for some

Numerous mechanical failures have closed several OC Transpo elevators this week, sending riders with mobility problems on long detours.

Failures in the transit agency’s 49 elevators are notorious impediments for people who have trouble with its station stairs. Many of the elevators are old and when they break down, they’re often down for weeks.

The solution for riders who need the elevators is usually to ride a bus for an extra stop, get off and use a working elevator to go up, cross the busway, ride an elevator down, take a bus back the other way, get off at the right station, and take the working elevator up and out.

OC Transpo has begun a replacement program and has started posting notices of outages in several places online so at least users aren’t nastily surprised.

But in the past week alone, five elevators went down for unscheduled repairs, in addition to two that have been closed for larger renovations.

Wednesday, the elevator to the eastbound platform at Tunney’s Pasture broke. It “had an issue with the main control board,” OC Transpo said in response to questions from the Citizen. It should be repaired in a few days.

Friday, the elevator to the eastbound platform at Campus station broke.

Three days later, it was the elevator to the eastbound platform at St. Laurent station. According to OC Transpo, they “required a re-set and should be back in service very shortly, if not already.” (Three escalators at St. Laurent are also recorded as being out of service for a few days, and that’s been the case since May.)

Monday, the elevator to the southbound platform at Billings Bridge broke.

It “experienced a door sensor issue and should be repaired in the next few days.”

At Queensway station, both elevators are out of service; online OC Transpo says one is down for renovations and the other has been down for temporary repairs since June 18. OC Transpo’s facilities manager Dan Villeneuve said actually both are being renovated.

Villeneuve said all the problems were detected in routine inspections.

“OC Transpo inspects its elevators daily to ensure they are safe for customers,” he wrote in an email relayed through the city’s communications department. “We also have a monthly service contract in place to inspect all elevators at transit stations.”

He said the unexpected problems were noticed in inspections Monday morning, though all the elevators have been out of service for days.