Abstract: An apparatus for actuating the hoistway doors of an elevator, which comprises a coupling element fixedly arranged at the hoistway or elevator shaft door and a movable electromagnetically actuatable coupling element arranged at the elevator cabin door which, at the region of an elevator landing or storey can be brought into engagement with the fixed coupling element of the hoistway door. The movable coupling element arranged at the elevator cabin door comprises an entrainment member composed of discs arranged at essentially the same spacing from one another. The stationary or fixed coupling element mounted at the hoistway door comprises a comb having prongs which possess an essentially uniform spacing from one another, which spacing is dimensioned such that the discs of the entrainment member, during the coupling action, engage with play between the prongs of the comb.