The City of Toronto conducts bike counts on an ongoing basis, to gather data about the amount of cycling traffic at different locations. Good data is essential to analyze the traffic patterns of all road users, and to ensure that cycling traffic is weighted accordingly when future directions for transportation planning choices are being considered.

How Automatic Counters Work
The automatic bike counters are similar to the same mechanisms used to count cars, but smaller and more sensitive.

Tubes of air are installed across the area where cycling traffic is being measured.  When a cyclist rides over the tubes, the air in the tubes is compressed, and this creates a burst of air which is then measured by the counter.

View Bike Count Data by Location
Ever wonder how many people are riding in your area?  Here are a few quick snapshots, taken from intersections around the City.

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On Street Bikeways

• Dupont – (at Edwin and Campbell) (PDF)
• Wellesley – (between Yonge and Church) (PDF)
• Sherbourne – Shuter (PDF)
• College – Spadina (PDF)
• Bloor – Castle Frank (PDF)
• John Street – (at King and Queen) (PDF)
• Dundas – Beverly (PDF)
• Queens Quay – Jarvis (PDF)
• Pharmacy – St. Claire (PDF)
  

Parks Trails

• Harrison Estates Park (PDF)
• Ester Lorrie Park (PDF)

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Traffic on Jarvis Street
Bicycle lanes were installed in July 2010.  Since their installation, staff has been monitoring bicycle and motor vehicle traffic on Jarvis Street between Queen St. East and Charles St. East.

The following bicycle counts were conducted over a 24hr. period.
Please note, when reading the numbers represented here, that in some reports and other official documents only the numbers from the peak eight hours are used.

• Jarvis and Dundas St.
• Jarvis Street and Wellesley, Isabella, and Queen St. East

Jarvis Street Traffic information is discussed in the June 2011 Staff report to the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee.

The June 2011 Jarvis Street Briefing Note also summarizes the traffic data which was available at that time.

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2010 Bike Cordon Count
The 2010 Bicycle Count report and summary leaflet (PDF) outline the City's first dataset on how many cyclists are riding on streets in downtown Toronto, when and where they are riding, and other characteristics about cyclists such as helmet use, gender, sidewalk riding and whether the cyclist is a passenger. The raw count data (Excel file) and count locations (Shapefile) are available on the City's Open Data web site.

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Open Data Website
Data used to map Toronto's bikeways is now available on the City's Open Data website. This website gives members of the public free access to City of Toronto data for a range of uses, including for research and to develop new applications. The Bikeway data is contained in the enhanced Toronto Centreline (TCL) shapefile and contains all existing bike lanes, signed routes, sharrows, off-road trails, as well as suggested routes and connections where bikeways have not yet been installed.

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2009 City of Toronto Cycling Study
The 2009 City of Toronto Cycling Study (PDF) is a report on the state of cycling in the City of Toronto. Study questions mirrored those from the 1999 Cycling Study to look for changes and trends from 1999-2009. Additional questions were also added for topics and issues which did not exist ten years ago.

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Bike to Work Census Statistics
The According to the 2006 census, 1.7% of people in the City of Toronto rode their bicycle to work in 2006. Read more about Toronto's bike to work census statistics

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1999 City of Toronto Cycling Study
The The 1999 City of Toronto Cycling Study (PDF 1 Mb) reported on the state of cycling in the amalgamated City of Toronto. This study provided background information for the Toronto Bike Plan of 2001