Operating less than all of multiple cars in a hoistway following communication failure between some or all cars

A plurality of cars (A-C) traveling in the same hoistway (10) send communication check codes (27, 35, 70, 77) to each other over a first communication channel, and if a response is not received (30, 37, 73, 80) within a predetermined time (32, 38, 74, 81) the car not getting a response will send a failure mode command to the other two cars (53, 82). Either the car (A) which senses the failure, or a predesignated car (B) will assume a wild car mode (60, 88) after the other two cars are safely parked (56, 57; 85, 86) out of the way, under control of special sensors and signals sent over a second communications channel. Two out of three cars may operate if only one has communication failure with one or two of the others.