Toronto, Ontario
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, like many North American cities, has slowly been expanding its purpose-built
cycling infrastructure
Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of bicycle pedal, pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the ...
. The number of cyclists in Toronto has been increasing progressively, particularly in the city's
downtown core
The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with two integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive buil ...
. As cycling conditions improve, a
cycling culture has grown and alternatives such as automobiles are seen as less attractive. The politics of providing resources for cyclists, particularly dedicated bike lanes, has been contentious, particularly since the 2010s.
History

Toronto was no exception when the
penny-farthing
The penny-farthing, also known as a high wheel, high wheeler or ordinary, is an early type of bicycle. It was popular in the 1870s and 1880s, with its large front wheel providing high speeds, owing to it travelling a large distance for every ro ...
, and later the
safety bicycle
A safety bicycle (or simply a safety) is a type of bicycle that became very popular beginning in the late 1880s as an alternative to the penny-farthing (also known as an "ordinary" or "high wheeler") and is now the most common type of bicycle. Ear ...
, arrived in North American cities in the late 19th century. This predated the advent of the automobile. The roads at the time were not ideal for bicycle travel. With the advent of the automobile the romance of the bicycle faded. It wasn't until the 10-speed
bike boom
The bike boom or bicycle craze is any of several specific historic periods marked by increased bicycle enthusiasm, popularity, and sales.
Prominent examples include 1819 and 1868, as well as the decades of the 1890s and 1970sthe latter espec ...
of the 1970s that use of the bicycle for transportation in Toronto regained some traction, including the creation of the
Beltline Trail.
In 1975, the Toronto City Cycling Committee was established by the former City to promote cycling and safety initiatives. It was composed of cycling advocates, City Councillors and volunteers. In forming the committee, Council adopted the following policy statement: "Council recognizes that the bicycle, as an integral and efficient form of transportation and as a means of recreation, can make a significant contribution to the quality of City life; therefore, it is the policy of Council to implement programs that will promote and facilitate greater and safer use of the bicycle."
In 2001, Toronto City Council adopted the Toronto Bike Plan with the aim of doubling the number of cycling trips and reducing crashes and injuries by 2011.

On May 25, 2009,
Toronto City Council
Toronto City Council is the governing body of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario. Meeting at Toronto City Hall, it comprises 25 city councillors and the mayor of Toronto. The Toronto City Council 2022–2026, current term began on Nove ...
voted 28–16 to remove the
reversible centre commuter traffic lane on
Jarvis Street
Jarvis Street is a north-south thoroughfare in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, passing through some of the oldest developed areas in the city. Its alignment extends from Queens Quay East in the south to Bloor Street in the north. The segment ...
and improve the streetscape by widening sidewalks, planting trees, installing heritage plaques, and implementing bicycle lanes. In 2011, after the election of new mayor
Rob Ford
Robert Bruce Ford (May 28, 1969 – March 22, 2016) was a Canadian politician and businessman who served as the 64th mayor of Toronto from 2010 to 2014. Before and after his term as mayor, Ford was a city councillor representing Ward 2 Etobi ...
, a new Council voted to remove the bicycle lanes and reinstate the previous configuration. The Council opted for a new bicycle route along the parallel
Sherbourne Street. On November 17, 2012, following removal of the bicycle lanes, the reversible centre lane reopened.
Starting in 2011, under Mayor Rob Ford,
Bike Share Toronto
Bike Share Toronto is a bicycle-sharing system in Toronto, Ontario, operated by the Toronto Parking Authority (TPA). The system consists of over 9,000 bicycles and over 850 stations, and covers over in 21 of the 25 wards of the city, with plans ...
began operating a
bicycle-sharing system
A bicycle-sharing system, bike share program, public bicycle scheme, or public bike share (PBS) scheme, is a shared transport service where bicycles are available for shared use by individuals at low cost.
The programmes themselves include both ...
, with over 6000 bikes and 600 stations across the city.
Since 2015, several major streets such as
Bloor Street
Bloor Street is an east–west arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct, which spans the Don River (Ontario), Don River Valley, westward into Mississauga where it ends at Central Parkway. East ...
have gained segregated bike lanes, with lanes planned along
Eglinton Avenue
Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west Arterial road, arterial thoroughfare in Toronto and Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The street begins at Ontario Highway 407, Highway 407 (but does not interchange with the tollway) at the w ...
following the completion of
Line 5 Eglinton
Line 5 Eglinton, also known as the Eglinton Crosstown LRT or the Crosstown, is a light rail transit line that is under construction in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that will be part of the Toronto subway system. Owned by Metrolinx and operated by t ...
construction work in the early 2020s.
During the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, 40 km of bike lanes were installed across the city along major corridors as part of physical distancing measures in a project called ActiveTO.
As with previous trial projects such as on Bloor Street in 2016, ActiveTO installations involved temporary barriers and minimal changes to street layout.
These bike lanes were made permanent in Dec 2021, after results showed high ridership, increased safety and minimal travel time delays for drivers.
Infrastructure and support
Following the 2001 Toronto Bike Plan, Toronto City Council has approved several updated plans including the 2016 10 Year Cycling Network Plan, and the 2021 Cycling Network Plan Update. This sets out a plan to create a citywide
cycling network of on-road, off-road bikeways, signage and parking. The other major prong of the bike plan is education and promotion to reduce the number of collisions/falls and to increase the number of people who bike.
The Bike Plan is a major program to dramatically expand the network through on-road bike lanes, signed routes and off-road multi-use paths. The goal was that by 2011 any cyclist in the city proper should be within a five-minute ride of a designated bike route. The network is planned for 1000 km of bikeways including 500 km of on-street bike lanes, and another 250 km of off-road paved trails. , around 750 kilometres of the 1000 km proposed bikeway network is in place, with 367 km of this on street.
Two major off-road paved trails along the
Don and
Humber
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Trent, Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms ...
river valleys provide a backbone for transport on the east and west side of the downtown area. The two trails are connected by the
Martin Goodman Trail
The Martin Goodman Trail is a [Waterfront Trail
The Great Lakes Waterfront Trail is a signed route of roads and trails in Ontario, Canada, running between Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Sault Ste. Marie and the Quebec border following the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. The trail connects ov ...]
that goes along
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...
. All of these off-road trails are heavily used by cyclists but still have some issues with continuity and trail quality that keep them from being prime cycling transportation corridors.
The city has installed thousands of ''post and ring stands'' for on-street
bike parking in the last few years.
Legality

Cycling as transportation is covered under the Ontario ''
Highway Traffic Act
The ''Highway Traffic Act'' (, HTA; "the Act") is a statute in Ontario, Canada, which regulates the licensing of vehicles, classification of traffic offences, administration of loads, classification of vehicles and other transport-related issue ...
''.
Education
The City of Toronto offers
CAN-BIKE cycling skills courses.
CAN-BIKE's philosophy is to train cyclists of all levels how to ride safely as a vehicle in regular traffic, also known as
vehicular cycling
Vehicular cycling (also known as bicycle driving) is the practice of riding a bicycle in traffic in a manner that emulates driving a motor vehicle.
The phrase ''vehicular cycling'' was coined by John Forester (cyclist), John Forester in the 1970 ...
by proponents of
John Forester.
A number of different organizations offer
bike mechanic workshops, such as the Toronto District School Board,
Community Bicycle Network, Bike Pirates, BikeSauce and Bikechain. Except the Toronto District School Board, all of these organisations also have public access tool use and bicycle repair and recycling, with different pay scales for shop use (depending on the organisation).
Bike Share Toronto

Toronto's bike share system—
Bike Share Toronto
Bike Share Toronto is a bicycle-sharing system in Toronto, Ontario, operated by the Toronto Parking Authority (TPA). The system consists of over 9,000 bicycles and over 850 stations, and covers over in 21 of the 25 wards of the city, with plans ...
—launched on May 3, 2011, as part of the Montreal-based
Public Bike System Company
Lyft Urban Solutions, formerly PBSC Urban Solutions and originally Public Bike System Company, is an international bicycle-sharing system equipment vendor with their headquarters based in Longueuil, Quebec. The company develops bicycle-sharing s ...
's (PBSC)
BIXI brand of bike shares. In 2014, the system was taken over by the
Toronto Parking Authority following PBSC's financial difficulties, and was rebranded as Bike Share Toronto. The system covers over of the city, with bike stations available within an area bounded by
Finch Avenue
Finch Avenue is an arterial road, arterial thoroughfare that travels east–west in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The road continues west into the Regional Municipality of Peel as List of numbered roads in Peel Region, Regional Road 2 and east in ...
in the north,
Rouge Park in the east,
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...
to the south, and to
Long Branch to the west. Users can purchase yearly or monthly memberships and can then rent the bikes from any of the stations. Additional charges are incurred after the first half hour.
Expansion of the system took place in the late 2010s, increasing the system to a total of 6850 bicycles and 625 stations. By 2023, the system had 756 stations and 8,970 bicycles (including 1,815 e-bikes) and served 5.7 million rides.
The system is the second bike sharing system in Toronto. The first was the Community Bicycle Network's popular
BikeShare program which ran from 2001 to 2006 with approximately 150 bikes and 15 stations. It closed due to a lack of long-term grant funds and lack of alternative funding sources to cover all the costs, such as advertising revenues or membership fees.
Public transit

All
TTC buses
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...
have bicycle racks. Bicycles are allowed on the subway outside of the morning and evening rush hours. The Toronto Bike Plan, in the "Cycling and transit" chapter, aims to improve accessibility to bikes on transit as well as parking at transit locations.
Additionally,
GO Transit
GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven mil ...
also provides bike racks on all their bus routes, and allows bicycles on their trains outside of weekday rush hours. As of 2008, folding bicycles are allowed at all times, including rush hour. Summer GO Train service to Niagara includes dedicated bicycle cars which have all seats on the bottom floor removed and replaced with bicycle racks.
Organizations
Compared to many North American cities, Toronto has a well-established municipal government Cycling Office.
It has been in charge of fulfilling the Toronto Bike Plan by adding bike lanes, hosting Bike Month, and CAN-Bike. The City previously had a Toronto Cycling Advisory Committee that existed to advise the Transportation Department and City Council on cycling issues. The committee was not re-established for the 2010-2014 Council term.
There are also a number of independent cycling organizations in Toronto providing advocacy, recreational and
community economic development Community economic development (CED) is a field of study that actively elicits community involvement when working with government and private sectors to build strong communities, industries, and markets. It includes collaborative and participatory ...
services:
* Advocacy:
**
Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists advocates on behalf of cyclists providing important information on legal issues as well as supporting memorials for cyclists killed while on their bike.
** Formed in 2008,
Cycle Toronto (formerly the Toronto Cyclists Union) is Toronto's only member-based
cycling advocacy
Cycling advocacy consists of activities that call for, promote or enable increased adoption and support for cycling and improved safety and convenience for cyclists, usually within urbanized areas or semi-urban regions. Issues of concern typical ...
organization.
** The
Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation is a coalition of organizations interested in researching and advocating for better cycling and pedestrian infrastructure and policy in Toronto.
*
Bicycle cooperative
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...
s:
** There are about half a dozen bike co-ops in Toronto, including bikeSauce, Bike Pirates, and the
Community Bicycle Network. These are
non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
assisted-self-service bike repair shops. Some also sell refurbished bicycles. For more information, see the list on the Bike Collective Network wiki.
* Recreational:
** The
Toronto Bicycling Network is Toronto's large recreational cycling organization, with many bike rides and trips throughout the year and a history of advocacy going back to the days when it had a seat on the Toronto Cycling Committee.
** Both the Take the Tooker campaign and Bells on Bloor campaign are pushing for a bike lane across
Bloor Street
Bloor Street is an east–west arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct, which spans the Don River (Ontario), Don River Valley, westward into Mississauga where it ends at Central Parkway. East ...
. They also host the largest bike ride in Toronto with thousands of cyclists taking over Bloor Street every spring.
Statistics
Number of cyclists
A 1999 Decima Research study showed that 48 percent of Torontonians were cyclists and 60% of households owned bicycles. During the peak summer months, cyclists in Toronto made more than three million trips per week, including over 1.6 million
recreation trips. Approximately 20 percent of the population (388,000) are
utilitarian cyclists, riding to work and school, going shopping, running errands or going visiting.
The largest age groups of utilitarian and recreational cyclists were the 18-34 and 35-39 age groups. Gender-wise cyclists split about 60 percent male and 40 percent female. 23 percent of utilitarian cyclists continue to cycle through the winter whereas only 5 percent of recreational cyclists do the same. Bicycle ownership and recreational cyclists levels were fairly level across the city.
Utility cycling
Utility cycling encompasses any cycling done simply as a means of transport rather than as a sport or leisure activity. It is the original and most common type of cycling in the world. Cycling mobility is one of the various types of private t ...
, however, is much higher in Central Toronto (comprising
York
York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
,
East York
East York is a district and former municipality within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From 1967 to 1998, it was officially the Borough of East York, a borough within the upper-tier municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. The borough was dissolved ...
and
Old Toronto
Old Toronto is the part of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that corresponds to the boundaries of the City of Toronto prior to 1998. It was incorporated as a city in 1834, after being known as the town of York, and being part of York County. Toronto ...
). Utilitarian cyclists are much more concerned about careless drivers, poor road conditions and
car doors opening in comparison to non-cyclists and recreational cyclists.
Safety

The 2003 Toronto Bicycle/Motor-Vehicle Collision Study found that
cycling collisions in Toronto were most frequent on arterial roads, particularly on central east–west routes where cycling volumes are high.
The majority of collisions occurred at intersections and most of those involved motor-vehicle turning manoeuvres.
Away from intersections, collisions most often involved a motorist overtaking a cyclist, or opening a car door in the path of a cyclist. In the central area of the city, the most frequent type of collision involved a motorist opening their car door in the path of a cyclist. Almost 30% of the cyclists were cycling on the sidewalk immediately prior to their collisions.
Tourism
The
Toronto-Niagara Bike Train Initiative has helped connect Toronto cyclists with
Niagara Region bike trails via
Via Rail
Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada.
As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...
. The
Waterfront Trail
The Great Lakes Waterfront Trail is a signed route of roads and trails in Ontario, Canada, running between Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Sault Ste. Marie and the Quebec border following the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. The trail connects ov ...
organization has been instrumental in getting a mostly-continuous bike trail across a large stretch of the north shore of Lake Ontario, including Toronto. It has also promoted the trail as an interesting route for
cycle tourism.
See also
*
Cycling in Canada
*
Toronto Donut Ride
References
External links
Cycling in Toronto - City of TorontoBike PiratesBikeSauceBikechainA guide to electric biking in Toronto
{{Cycling in different countries and cities
C
Cycling in Canada
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
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