The Worst Roads for Cyclists in Toronto

Avenue Road from St. Clair to Bloor. Uphill is a piss off, but downhill is just crazy.

*Any street that crosses on/off-ramps to a major highway:
These are often pretty bad. But usually once you get to know how the lanes are configured, you can make it a bit easier by staking your ground, switching to the appropriate lane early enough, and watching everything around you. For example, when I cross the 427 on Burnhamthorpe Rd. on my way to/from work, I know that I should stay out of the right lane, as it is for highway on/off traffic.

* Bloor Street West (to Keele)
This is actually a pretty good cycling street, if you don't ride in the door-zone. Stay at least a metre from the car doors, and you're fine. You should never have to dodge open doors. And there are no streetcar tracks in the way either... Mind you, the railway underpasses between Lansdowne and Dundas can be hair-raising as motorists speed through there... but again, take the lane and let the motorists slow down and/or change lanes to go around. Lastly...the section between Dundas and Keele is the *best* part of Bloor with very wide lanes that are in many ways better than inferior bike lanes in other parts of the city.

* College Street
I don't really worry about other cyclists in the bike lane here. It's the narrow door-zone bike lane in many parts of it that is the worst. Stick to the left edge of it and you should be OK. It's also also always filled with parked cars...so watch for that. Also...so what if you can't get back into the peloton because the bike lane is full? Nobody says you *must* ride there. More space for cyclists if some of us get out into the bigger lane. :)

* Queen Street West
Yeah...tricky to stay between the door zone and streetcar tracks. If you're using the door-zone to pass cars on the right, do so *very* carefully and slowly. And don't be a jerk....stop for open streetcar doors.

* Roncesvalles Avenue
It's being dug up, re-paved, and re-jigged right now. Will be interesting to see how it turns out....especially in winter with the added bump-outs. in its existing configuration, it's generally a pretty good cycling street if not for the horrible pavement.

* Spadina (south of College)
When the delivery vehicles and double-parked cars take up the right lane, it can sometimes turn it into a nice wide defacto bike lane, because the motorists avoid it. Just have to be careful when passing the double-parkers. I wish they would get rid of the annoying fake bike lane "edge stripe" and either put in a proper bike lane or widen the curb lane.

* Steeles Avenue
No comment...have never cycled along here, except to cross north-south. But most major suburban arterials suffer from really fast motorists.

* St. Clair Avenue West
There's always room for cyclists, if you take the lane. But when it's jammed up, it's more difficult to pass when the lanes are narrow.

* Yonge Street (south of Bloor)
I've never found this to be so bad...it's just annoying with all the stop lights.

I avoid Gerrard just west of Yonge going west. I have often had to hold onto a car to avoid being squished right off the road there, with construction on one side, and cars squishing on the other, i feel lucky to be alive.

Second danger zone on my ride home is the Danforth Aqueduct going West. Holy Moly, that on-ramp is a nightmare. I often opt to Walk across. it's insane.

The Danforth isn't too bad, but it's easy enough to find a route running parallel from Broadview to my place at Jones.

Thanks for this list, it's just pure luck that I survive the commute some days.

As it stands, most streets with bike lanes are pretty horrendous. Sherbourne ranks as the worst in my books, where the bike lane in is in worse shape than the rest of the road.

Jarvis also goes without saying.

Queen Street. Street car tracks. Blurg.

I used to climb Pottery Road quite a bit. It wasn't that bad. Of course I was 20 pounds lighter then, but it doesn't get that much traffic so it's really not that bad.

I totally agree with the passing right turn thing. Cyclists do this all the time in this city and its just suicidal. If the car is turning right, wait for him or pass him on the left, but don't do this illegal cut off maneuver and get pissed off when the car doesn't see you.

Even on streets with bike lanes, the reason the bike lane becomes dotted at intersections is because cars are allowed to enter it to turn right. Cyclists can wait for the car, or pass it on the left. It's pretty simple and greatly reduces your odds of a crash. From the car's point of view, the bike is coming out of nowhere, illegally.

Couldn't agree more about College Street. Love the bike lanes, but frankly, if it's rush hour, and you're a cyclist in the bike lane, pick up the pace. I'm sick and tired of being stuck behind slow-poke leisure riders taking in the scenery while I'm trying to get somewhere on time. Even worse are couples riding side by side, since they're impossible to pass unless you move well into auto traffic. If you wanna take it slow, find a bike path or a side street. Some of us are commuting here. (And no, I'm not one of those spandex-clad speed demons who aggressively tries to outmaneuver everyone else and blasts through red lights. Eff those guys. I'm just looking for a reasonably quick pace in keeping with traffic along a major arterial street.)

Yeah, Avenue Road is horrible biking. The cars travel too fast and there's no respect for cyclists. Don't even bother unless you want to get crushed. But Spadina south of College I actually find fun--the obstacle course through Chinatown is a neat challenge. As long as you don't run over a pigeon.

Get off the computer and go ride your bike!!

Dufferin Street south of Eglinton is horrible. I believe the worst drivers are on that street. Plus I've have the unfortunate experience on my bike of seeing drivers speeding to the heroin clinic at Dufferin and St.Clair and causing alot of problems. Almost as bad crazy shopping addicts trying to get to either mall; Dufferin or Yorkdale.

King Street also needs a bike lane, mornings are terrible....

I agree with the right turn issue but I also think it signals the need to have own paved lanes (maybe off the roads, next to the sidewalks as in Germany) for cycles so that we are not competiting with the cars and not trying to have a bike follow car rules of driving. Since all cycles know how dangerous is feels to properly go in the middle of the two lanes to go straight and pass the car turning. Or how naked and insecure one feels when on a bike making a left turn at an intersections and you know that the cars have no idea what your signals mean or why you are in the lane. You actually see the fear and confusion in their eyes.

Dufferin has got to be the worst. There's really only one segment (just north of Eglinton) that is free of potholes, all of which seem to have developed in the far-right edges of the road. Lots of handlebar jerking to avoid catapulting over the handlebars, riding uphill all the way along with a 50-70km/h stream of traffic make for some fairly hairy cycling.

And then you have to do it all over again, except twice as fast when you go back downhill. 40-50+km/h speeds are great fun on the road, except when you're simultaneously racing cars to the gaps between crevasses in the tarmac.

I live up north by york u and there is NO way i ride on the road (finch/keele/jane/steeles)
the traffic is too fast,there are many big trucks due to fuel deopts and the like
and the sidewalks are deserted. You may see a couple of pedestrians every kilometer or so
with wide open sidewalks it is much too tempting to takr the easy way out

I'll agree that most out-of-core roads are far more dangerous than core roads. Simply due to the facts that have been stated before-- less infrastructure, higher speeds, lower driver awareness, and the fact that you'll probably be the only cyclist on the road.

I would bet that Glenn de Baermaker (sp?) has some excellent survival stories.

We have a long way to come in this city, but I think the cycling movement is making progress. I will echo the sentiment of others: please PLEASE cyclists, obey the rules of the road, if you don't you just make it worse for the cycling cause.

you guys should write an article for the best roads or routes for bicyclists

just ride in the streetcar lane on st. clair west...the drivers are too busy eating their big mac at st clair station. it is much more safe than riding in the lane with cars.

well if you think about it a lot of 905ers are coming into the city for work and do you really think they are accustom to seeing bikes on the road?

McCaul is absolutely terrible for cyclists. Very, very often I see people falling in the middle of McCaul from the streetcar tracks, it's brutal.

I think the roads in the post have been picked completely at random. They are not really much worse than the majority of other arterial roads. Some are actually better than average.

Take College St. It takes me at most ten seconds (less, on average), to find a gap in auto traffic that allows me to merge safely and pass the slow-moving bike train. And I really can't understand the frustration with slow cyclists and the suggestion that they should speed up or move to side streets. How is this different from dumb drivers' fuming about how all of these cyclists should get off the road and out of their way? If there is anything frustrating about College, it's the multitude of traffic lights... but that goes for most downtown arterials.

Or, why does Steeles get a special note? Are any major roads in that area much better? Heck, one can hardly tell them apart, let alone rank them.

Some choices in the comments are also surprising. There is nothing scary about the Bloor-Danforth bridge. Plan ahead, change lanes early when there is no one behind you - and you'll be just fine. There is also nothing scary about passing right turners on the left: they typically are close to the curb and there is lots of space between them and the other lane of traffic. But if you are scared for any reason, you can always stop and wait behind them, you know...

"I live up north by york u and there is NO way i ride on the road (finch/keele/jane/steeles)"

I used to ride to York U every day Mon-Fri, and always on the road. Only once in many many trips did I have anything that qualified as an "encounter" with a motorist: he was unhappy that I was on the road, and honked as he passed (he passed safely, I might add). Big deal. Major arterials north of Eglinton are not that great for cycling, but they are not impossible to cycle on. BTW, that poor cyclist who got killed at Keele and Finch (an intersection I rode through many, many times) apparently was riding on the sidewalk.

queen west is a pretty tricky section to navigate, but thats the fun part...
such fun trendy people...

I have no problem with cyclists generally, but the big problem is when they are using a high speed street like Avenue or Mount Pleasant north of Bloor. On Avenue the cyclists think they own the road, so I have to make a dangerous maneuver to avoid hitting them. Since I am going 50 and there is very little space to have a car and a cyclists drive in the same lane, I have to quickly jump into the next lane. Of course, you could argue that we could just drive behind the cyclist at 15km an hour. The traffic jam in that case would be even bigger.

When I am doing a right turn I often these days try to block the bike lane. There are still idiot cyclists who try to go around and straight. I do it for cyclist safety. I am watching the pedestrians and oncoming traffic. It is very stupid to go straight as you go through my blind spot and I really don't expect you there. Even if I see you there I just don't know what you are going to do - go straight or let me go. I understand that everyone is in hurry these days, but please wait a moment till I make a right turn (if I came first) and then continue on your way.

Going with a bike on a highway is illegal!

In the end adding more bike lanes simply won't solve Toronto traffic problem. Toronto is too big to have everyone just ride a bike. The public transit should be better. Simply now, it takes me less time to drive to certain places (if longer distances) then taking the TTC. In downtown I can probably walk faster then streetcars in rush hour.

Soren - On the positive side, according to Dan Egan, Toronto's Manager of Pedestrian and Cycling Infrastructure, the mandate is that as streets are ripped up for Transitcity, bike lanes will be put in unless they absolutely won't fit. This decision is regardless of whether the street is in the bike plan or not. So Sheppard east should be getting lanes. This, incidentally, is why we have not yet seen bike lanes on Broadview, Millwood, or Overlea. They're still deciding where to put the Don Mills LRT.

One road I have noticed getting worse and worse it Fort York Blvd. The cycle lanes themselves are actually very good, but with a very busy building site right there they are now full of sand and gravel forcing riders out onto the road and to navigate the big dump trucks. It's an accident waiting to happen.

Dufferin and Bayview

I cycle on all these roots, nothing touches Dufferin. If it had Street Car tracks, there should be signs for cyclists to not ust it, like the bridge over the DVP and on river on Eastern (head to up to Queen or down to the bike lane beside Lakeshore to avoid injury!

So true I can't even count how many times I've seen the full cycle-outfit clad dudes wave in and out of traffic dancing and dangerously racing with each other during rush hour, or been cut off by them while biking at a steady medium paced speed (not slow at all).

I still don't see the behaviour you are talking about. The few people i know that are into fast road bikes refuse to ride in the city. The few well equipped people i see seem controlled.

The hipsters while slow, seem to be going on the wrong side of the street half the time, and generally break most of the rules of the road with a sense of entitlement. Again generalizing, there is plenty of hipsters that ride just fine.

KEELE - between Saint Clair and Dundas - PLEASE HELP!

Agreed!

Almost killed myself the other day

Warning- HUGE POTHOLE - going south on dufferin (down the hill) just after the intersection at Davenport. It's a killer you can't see this huge pothole waiting for you.

One thing that strikes me when reading these posts and the list of roads is that people might want to think about varying their route a bit. Try leaving for work early a few times and see if you can find alternate roads to keep you off of the Dufferin-like routes. I did this with a compass and a map a few times and discovered routes that were more scenic, interesting and safer (and I discovered some stores that I didn't know existed either). The TO cycling map is a good resource if you want to find routes that are less traffic intensive. I find that the Suggested On-Street Routes (with no bike lanes) are sometimes better than the bike lane routes, as they are less traffic intensive.

It may add a few minutes to your commute, but you can avoid a lot of risk by choosing lower traffic volume routes, wider roads, etc. Most major roads have the problem of potholes and cracks on the sides, so you have a choice of a bumpy ride or riding with the cars. As much as I love taking up a lane, in some places you are just asking for trouble as the traffic moves so much faster than you. The solution, if you can, is to find better routes. The cycling map is free, available at any bike shop, and it updated regularly (it is also available on-line). The city is doing work all the time, and you never know when a bad route will become a good one. They recently finished off their work on Annette West of High Park and it is a beautiful ride now, wide and smooth.

When you are on major routes like Steeles in the North of the city, you often find that the sidewalk traffic is non-existent, so you can ride the sidewalk fairly easily. I commute to York from Downtown four days a week on average, and I take one of several routes that involve periods on major roads like this. My rule is that if there is not much traffic (traffic moves in packs on fast roads, there can be lulls) I'll ride on the road, but only if I have an exit point somewhere (e.g. a ramp or a crossing road) that I can use if necessary. I found the exit points on my route by riding the sidewalk a few times. Do check your tires periodically for glass though, major roads produce lots of glass.

The other option besides the sidewalk is to find parallel roads nearby. When I'm going East on Steeles just past Islington I go south to Garyray and ride across, it is a wide industrial road and there is lots of room. When I'm going East on Steeles just past York I go on Allness to Supertest, then through G. Ross Lord Park to Drewry. These roads are lighter in traffic (not empty mind you), wider in places, and eminently manageable. When going North you can pick roads that are more cycle friendly, like Scarlett, which has prominently displayed signs indicating that the road is also to be shared with cyclists.

Another option, if you are doing a major North/South commute is to pick up either of the river trails, up the Don or the Humber for the majority of the trip and then go East or West as needed to get where you are going. The Humber is particularly good for this, giving you easy exits on to Eglinton, Lawrence, Finch, etc. Admittedly it takes more time, but there are no cars, few pedestrians, and during the week a manageable number of cyclists. Look at it this way, if you are willing to go to the gym for 1-2 hours a week, then why not add an extra 15-20 minutes to your daily commute to get to one of the river trails and then have a safer ride? My route to York varies, but it can be anywhere from 80% trails to no trails at all, depending on what I'm in the mood for. There are also a lot of short haul East/West or diagonal trails you can use depending on where you start from: Smythe Park from Rockcliffe to Scarlett, G. Ross Lord Park, High Park, the Moore Park Ravine, the Belt-Line Trail. Combining these with low traffic and bike lane roads reduces traffic risks considerably.

As one of the spandex clad set (though I ride a mountain bike with road tires, not a racing bike), I can say that I agree with many of the posters here that many Toronto cyclists, no matter what they wear, do remarkably stupid things on a bike. To me this is simple physics, a bike weighs a lot less than a car, and if you get into a collision then the best of luck to you. You should cycle to save your ass, not to prove you are right. For example, I'm not sure what the traffic rules are for the situation where you are waiting beside a car that wants to make a right turn, but for me the distinction lies in who was there first. If I get there first then I get to go first. But if someone pulls up and has their signal on I wave at them to get their attention and tell them I'm going through. That usually does the trick. When I pull up to the intersection and the car is already there I give them the turn, and sometimes I wave them through so they know I'm not going to try to jump them at the light. When it comes to situations like these, I don't much care who is right and who is wrong, I don't want to end up sucking my food through a straw in a hospital somewhere, warm in the knowledge I was “right.”

In general I am willing to wait for cars if the drivers seem impatient or distracted, I sometimes pull aside and let the traffic “pack” pass and then rejoin traffic if I'm not comfortable with the situation. I trust my gut at all times. I always wear a helmet, and as for music, my rule is that on trails you can crank it up and have fun, but if you are in traffic it should be off, or at least low enough that you can hear the tires on the road beside you. A mirror is also a must, I check my mirror constantly to keep tabs on the traffic coming up behind me. I also have wide, thick tires on the bike to help with gaps, cracks, small bits of glass and other such things. I still vividly remember the fellow on Lakeshore who was riding on a racing bike with thin tires. He managed to turn his front tire (maybe while doing a shoulder check) and it got wedged in the sewer grate slats (that are offset to avoid trapping tires). I know that thin tires = speed, but I'm not in that much of a rush.

Cheers,

Ian

This article needs a sequel! Ok... so these are bad routes. Now, provide good alternative routes for where these paths go!

(I'm a year-round daily Toronto cyclist)

My biggest annoyance in cycling Toronto is generally mindless cyclists & pedestrians!

-SHOULDER CHECKS: I hardly ever see cyclists perform regular shoulder checks! I wish there was a mandatory training course for this. If you can't bike in a relatively straight line while looking back over your shoulder for 2 seconds, then in my view you fail!

-LOOKING BOTH WAYS: Pedestrians that never look both ways, or if they do, they need to look multiple times as they cross the street. It seems like most make their move after a quick glance and then using their ears to listen if cars get close. Obviously they can't hear a cyclist unless the bell is ringing.

-COMMUNICATION: Cyclists need to use more than just hand-signals to work together with other traffic. EYE CONTACT, HEAD SIGNALS, POSTURE, POSITIONING OF YOUR BIKE. All these things are communication. I use head signals a lot in low-low speed situations and everyone gets it. I jerk my head way into the direction I want to go, flick up my head and eyebrows a little, and boom, I usually get a window to make my move.

-LATE CROSSINGS: Pedestrians who decide to start crossing the street when the walk counter is almost finished and/or the yellow light comes up. They are completely oblivious and I suppose they see the GREEN traffic light, they think they're okay. In practical traffic reality, when the walk signal says DON'T WALK this is the special time for turning cars to make their move because most straight traffic has gone through already. What happens with a late pedestrian crossing? The car gets stuck in the middle of the intersection when the light changes, people everyone gets pissed off. All because of what? A late pedestrian. Then the pedestrian has the nerve to get offended when they're honked at! There are certain groups of people I see who are notorious as late pedestrians, I've seen it millions of times in my 25 years as a cyclist here in TO. If I were to angrily talk about these groups of people I would be called names. All I will say is, with any general road safety educational campaigns, some extra emphasis needs to be put on educational campaigns in schools, hospitals, retirement homes, immigration centres, and embedded on the screens of iPhones and Blackberries.

-CYCLISTS TAKING THE EXTREME RIGHT: If a car is turning-right at an intersection, and is slowly & cautiously creeping his way through (nothing wrong with that, otherwise he'll never make the turn), why is it that approaching cyclists, from the rear of the car, feel the need to pass this car on the extreme right? All they are doing is disrupting the flow of what's going on in that intersection. You are annoying the pedestrians who are in the walkway, and also making the car driver extremely nervous. Why don't you SHOULDER CHECK, see if there's a gap to PASS ON THE LEFT, otherwise STOP and wait your turn. In this situation you are in the same lane as the right-turning car, and in practical reality you have no right to be passing that turning car on the extreme right. Yet you have the gall to ring your bell are the right-turning car, as you pass? I feel so embarrassed by you, I feel like I have to apologize to the car driver on behalf of all cyclists.

-CYCLISTS SWERVING INTO TRAFFIC WITHOUT LOOKING: Again another reason to be shoulder-checking. If you have to dodge a pothole, parked car or a car door... you can certainly make a move into the next lane ONLY IF THERE'S A GAP and you can relatively match speed. So many times I see cyclists swerve into traffic without looking. Cars behind them end up swerving out or braking hard, creating potential collisions. The mindless cyclists just keeps pedaling away completely oblivious to the mess they make behind them. And you don't necessarily have to be traveling the same speed as the cars. As long as you have enough speed to make it back to the right before you start disrupting traffic flow too much. Generally if you had enough momentum going in, and you did a shoulder check and used body language that you are going to pull a move the car driver will work with you and decelerate for you to make your move. It all happens naturally and flowing IF EVERYONE COMMUNICATES.

EDUCATION damn it. Why aren't there posters all around to re-educate EVERYONE on using their EYES and BEING AWARE.

-CYCLISTS WITHOUT LIGHTS OR WORKING BRAKES: You guys are terrible because these are almost one-time equipment solutions. Go get your brakes fixed and learn how to tune them. And at night on a sidestreet, NO ONE CAN SEE YOU. Not even other cyclists. You make everyone nervous.

Queens Quay east of Yonge is also terrible. They have installed a beautiful smooth path, labeled 'pedestrians only', while the bike lane is an obstacle course of potholes.

After many years of TTC hell, I was looking forward to taking my Miele to work before reading this thread.