What to know
- A Barrie couple’s GO Train trip to downtown Toronto turned frightening when a man confronted them over Spurling’s feet on a seat, then allegedly pulled out a knife and pointed it at the couple.
- Spurling, riding the GO Train for the first time, contacted the emergency text line 77777 while panicking. She said confusion over the number and the response time left her frustrated after she was told police could only meet them at Union Station, about 45 minutes away.
- The couple eventually moved two cars away when the man went toward the bathroom. At Union Station, police and Metrolinx staff detained the man and confiscated the knife, but Spurling said she was shocked when officers released him because he had not verbally threatened her.
- The incident has left Spurling questioning GO Transit’s safety measures. She wants more security or police presence onboard, believes the emergency text system is difficult to use during a crisis, and says she “doesn’t think [she] will ride it again.”
One Barrie couple’s commute for a date night downtown Toronto had a frightening start, after they said they had a knife pointed at them while on the GO Train.
Rachael Spurling told Now Toronto she was commuting to Toronto from Barrie with her boyfriend, as they looked forward to their plans to kayak on Lake Ontario.
Taking transit is something Spurling usually avoids. In fact, Saturday’s trip was the first time she was on the GO Train in her life.
“I’m honestly scared to use it, just from stories I’ve heard before about public transit,” she said.
Taking the chance this past weekend, Spurling and her boyfriend’s trip down started easy, as they settled into their seats on the Barrie GO line.
It was eight stops later when a man boarded the train that their commute took a terrifying turn.
Spurling said she had her shoes propped up on the edge of the seat in front of her, something she said she didn’t know was frowned upon. That’s when the man confronted her.
“This guy comes from behind me, and he slams his two bags down at the empty seats in front of us, and goes, ‘Get your feet off the seat,’” she said. “I would say something back because I don’t like being talked to, but I could tell by his demeanor… this guy is trouble.”
The man then sat across from the couple, staring at them, and got up a few times before finally settling back down and pulling out a knife.
“You know how much space is in between the seats. There’s not that much, right? So he’s just [holding the knife], pointed at us,” Spurling explained.
It was a moment that startled her.
“My stomach just sank,” she said. “I’ve never felt like that before, and I was like, ‘something bad’s gonna happen.’”
Spurling said the man continued to point the knife at them in silence, only moving it to cut a Presto card in half in front of them, and place it on the seat’s edge in front of Spurling herself.
With moving from the seat or pressing the emergency yellow strip being too much of a risk near an unpredictable rider, Spurling decided to text the emergency help number “77777.”
It was a move that was slightly delayed due to some confusion around the number itself.
“I was trying to count while I was panicking, like ‘How many sevens is this?’” she said. “I’m like, ‘This is the stupidest number ever’ because I’m counting, trying to figure out how many sevens while I’m nervous.”
Spurling said even her boyfriend tried before her, but also became confused by the number.
When the couple finally reached the emergency line, Spurling said the assistant on the other end asked many questions before ultimately saying they could only meet the couple and suspect at Union Station. With the man having gotten on at Aurora GO, that would mean officers would only meet the couple after 45 more minutes.
“This guy has an open weapon on the cart on the GO train,” Spurling said with frustration. “That’s so much time in between for something bad to happen, and I feel like someone should have been there immediately addressing it.”
Spurling and her boyfriend were able to eventually move down two cars when the man got up towards the bathroom another time.
When they got off at Union Station, the pair saw Metrolinx staff and police had detained the man and were talking to him.
After giving their own statements, Spurling said she was shocked to see the officers letting the man go after confiscating his knife.
“[They said] something like their hands were tied because he didn’t verbally threaten me,” she explained. “But he was demanding, and I think intimidating me with a knife is enough of a threat.”
Spurling said the outcome made her feel like she was in disbelief.
“I was very, very upset because I just felt like I was gonna lose my life, and this guy’s just got a slap on the wrist,” she said.
She also added she didn’t feel any safer riding transit or being on the platform.
“Now this guy knows what I look like, knows I called the cops, or knows I contacted someone about him, and he’s walking in the same area as me now,” she explained.
Spurling said the entire situation was one that could have been dealt with better by both Metrolinx and Toronto Police.
She walked away from the incident with no reparations and little done for her safety.
‘I won’t ever ride it again,’ Safety concerns raised after frightening GO Train incident
The situation has left Spurling questioning the safety protocols of Metrolinx and GO Transit, especially in response to a passenger facing an immediate threat.
Following a TikTok post she made about the incident, Spurling said many other riders, especially other women, shared similar stories they experienced on the GO Train as well.
Despite these concerns, Metrolinx said they always prioritize the safety of their customers
In an email to Now Toronto on Monday, Metrolinx wrote that both the transit company and local emergency services chose the quickest approach.
“Once notified of the incident through a text for help message, both our Customer Protective Services team and Toronto Police Service met the train at Union Station and were able to respond, which was quicker than stopping at a different station,” the company said.
However, in Spurling’s opinion, the response was not quick enough. One of her biggest concerns was the amount of time it took for police and Metrolinx staff to reach the scene.
She added that more security personnel should be on board GO trains, stating that the emergency text system was not a good alternative to the emergency alarm when someone is panicking.
“I think there should be a few security officers on there, or even police,” she said. “And they should come right away to that cart.”
She noted that “77777” was a confusing number to text, delaying the process when commuters are trying to read the number of digits there are while experiencing a potentially stressful situation.
Additionally, the other passengers around her also did not step in or try to help by pressing the emergency strip.
“I did see the woman beside [the man] had sunglasses on, but I could see when she saw the knife, she was also like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ but I was very shocked that nobody did anything,” Spurling said.
The experience reinforced Spurling’s caution around riding public transit.
“I don’t think I will ride it again,” she said. “I could have not made it home, and I don’t ever want to be in that position again.”
Now, Spurling is taking the situation into her own hands, contacting Metrolinx again and requesting the footage.
“I don’t know what they’re gonna do from this point, but I asked for the footage and all that, because if I can, I want to escalate it,” Spurling said.
Now Toronto contacted the Toronto Police Service for comment but had not heard back by publication.
