‘Safety concern’ keeping Lawrence TTC entrance shut
Agency warned riders about ‘structural failure’
The TTC definitely does not have an open-door policy at a key entrance to the Lawrence subway and bus station.
And so far, it hasn’t said why the doors have been closed since March, or when they’ll be open again.
I got a note about it from Martha Holmen and Andrew MacDonald, who have put some effort into trying to find out why the entrance at the northwest corner of Yonge Street and Lawrence Avenue has yet to reopen.
“On the afternoon of March 5, my wife and I came home from work to see that the … entrance to Lawrence Station was closed,” the couple said in an email. “The street-level doors were locked. Signage was taped to the doors that indicated a closure ‘until further notice,’ but the nature of the closure was unspecified. Those signs are still there.”
They tweeted about it to the TTC on Mar. 14 and were told it was “a structural failure of the ceiling,” and that a “completion date will be provided as soon as it is available.”
After asking again early July, they were told “that as a thirdparty property, it would be closed until the owners of the building complete the repairs.”
So they emailed the operator of the building, saying they got a reply that said it was “working diligently with TTC to open the entrance,” but “the TTC have to sign off all works before the station entrance can be reopened.
“Today, the entrance remains closed, the escalator remains shut down and there is no evidence that any work has been done.
“We have been patient and polite with the TTC, but … it seems more like a game of hot-potato than an actual plan to fix and reopen the entrance.”
STATUS: TTC spokesperson Hayley Waldman emailed to say “the entrance was closed due to a safety concern,” but didn’t say what it was.
Waldman said the TTC has since been working with “the third party owner of the entrance property, to ensure the entrance is only reopened once we can collectively guarantee it is safe to do so.
“There is more technical work — testing and investigation — required to better understand what caused the issue and ensure we don’t encounter similar issues in the future.
“This is an ongoing process and we are working to reopen the entrance as soon as we can. Other entrances/exits are available for our customers at Lawrence Station.”