An elevator door system includes a motor rotating a vertical reel, and an elevator door. The door can be formed of a plurality of vertically aligned rigid panels or can be a sheet of material which is rigid or reinforced in the vertical direction or can have any other appropriate form making it suitable for being wound upon and unwound from the reel. The door is mounted to a flexible force transmission member provided along an entire width of the door and interconnected to the reel. Accordingly, the forces generated by the motor for opening and closing the door are substantially transmitted through the transmission member rather than being imparted onto the door itself Hence, in use the strain on the door is greatly reduced and therefore the quantity of material used for the door and consequently its cost and mass can be reduced without deteriorating performance.