What to know
- Emily Mills says a work zone at Queen’s Park Station left very little room to manoeuvre her mother’s wheelchair on their way to chemotherapy.
- Queen’s Park is officially an accessible TTC station with three elevators, but construction work is continuing at platform level.
- Mills says transit accessibility problems have previously made her mother late for, or caused her to miss, medical appointments.
- She also described problems with elevator outages, buses and lengthy Wheel-Trans delays.
- The TTC apologized and said the work-zone fencing had met its required 1.8-metre clearance when previously inspected, but something later narrowed the platform.
- The transit agency says the issue is being corrected and additional signage is being installed.
A routine TTC trip to chemotherapy turned frightening for one Toronto woman and her mother when they stepped off a train and found barely enough room to manoeuvre a wheelchair along the platform.
On the afternoon of Oct. 15, Toronto resident Emily Mills was using the TTC with her mom, a wheelchair user, heading toward Princess Margaret Hospital for a chemotherapy appointment.
As her mom’s caregiver, Mills got into the habit of leaving hours early and planning rides to make appointments on time, but inaccessible stations have often left them late or missing appointments.
What happened at Queen’s Park Station?
Last week, she and her mom came from Union Station, hoping to get off at Queens Park Station.
“We arrived at the station, the doors opened, we got off the train, and I didn’t see that the platform was inaccessible. We exited backwards because my mom’s in a wheelchair and there’s a gap, so we’re unable to go forward because the wheels get caught in the gap,” Mills explained.
The doors quickly closed, and they couldn’t get back on the train. Mills realized the platform was very narrow, and the yellow line was filled with bumps, and she quickly realized she had just entered a scary situation.
“Each time her wheels went over these bumps, I was so scared. I was holding on to her wheelchair so tight because I was very scared that she was going to go over the yellow line,” she told Now Toronto.
“I was feeling very scared and also very disappointed just because it was ridiculous that the train doors opened the doors there and they would expect an able-bodied person to walk this platform, even during rush hour, I couldn’t imagine how it would look,” Mills added.
‘She’s missed chemotherapy appointments’
This isn’t the first time she’s faced inaccessible stations.
On the way to an appointment at St. Michael’s Hospital, the mother and daughter struggled to find a station with a working elevator.
They went to Bloor-Yonge only to find the elevator wasn’t working, so they had to go back to Union and figure out how to get there from there.
Buses aren’t any better in her opinion. In Oct. 2025, she and her mom tried to board a bus to Scarborough Town Centre, but the driver rushed them up the ramp, raised it too soon, and started the bus before her mom was secured in an accessible seat.
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Mills said it’s a similar story with Wheel-Trans, saying she’s waited two to three hours past the scheduled pickup time, making her mom late to her chemo appointment again.
From Queen’s Park Station to Bloor-Yonge, then to buses and Wheel-Trans, she said the TTC has failed her mother overall.
“She’s missed chemotherapy appointments because the route wasn’t accessible,” Mills told Now Toronto.
What does Mills want to see change?
Mills hopes the TTC would prioritize the safety and comfort of riders who require accessible services.
“No one should feel unsafe or in danger or worrying about getting hurt or having an inaccessible barrier when there’s nothing posted… saying that half of the platform would be compromised or unsafe,” Mills said.
TTC says the platform issue is being corrected
“We thank the customer for bringing this to our attention and apologize for their experience,” a TTC spokesperson wrote.
The TTC claims it inspected the work zone last week and that the fencing met the 1.8-metre (six feet) setback requirement at the time.
“Clearly, something happened since then to narrow the platform area. This is being corrected and we’re looking into how it happened to ensure there’s no repeat,” the TTC spokesperson added.
The TTC is also installing better signage to advise customers about the work zone and that there are no public access points beyond the fenced area.
