Are Vespas and mopeds allowed in Toronto bike lanes?
What vehicles are allowed in bike lanes? I saw a gas-powered Vespa driving in one. With skateboarders, scooters and fast e-bikes, bike lanes are pretty chaotic these days – you really have to be paying attention. – Jordan, Toronto
With complicated rules around e-bikes, figuring out the lane truth in Toronto isn’t always easy.
“Often, you can’t just look at a vehicle and know whether it’s [legally allowed in a bike lane] or not,” said Michael Longfield, executive director of Cycle Toronto. “It’s my job to know these things and I get confused sometimes.”
In Toronto, the bike lane rules vary depending on whether you’re in a painted bike lane or a protected bike lane with barriers separating it from traffic.
Generally, in protected bike lanes, which are sometimes called cycle tracks, the only vehicles allowed are bikes and e-bikes - which includes most cargo bikes and tricycles.
So, you can’t be there on a skateboard, rollerblades or any kind of e-device, including e-kick scooters, other than an e-bike.
Gas-powered Vespas, mopeds and motorbikes aren’t allowed in protected bike lanes either. Under Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act, they’re considered motor vehicles and are only allowed on roads and private property. They also need licence plates, insurance and a motorcycle licence to ride.
So, if you can hear a gas engine on a Vespa, for instance, it’s obvious that it shouldn’t be in a bike lane.
But some electric bikes look like Vespas or motorbikes – it’s not always clear whether they belong in protected bike lanes, Longfield said.
“Some things look like they don’t belong when technically per the regulations they do,” he said.
Can’t judge by appearances?
Right now, the law in Ontario defines an e-bike as having a motor of 500 watts or less, working pedals and a top e-assisted speed of 32 kilometres an hour (you may be able to go faster than that on any bike when coasting down a hill, for instance). They also have to weigh less than 120 kilograms.
If a device fits that definition, it doesn’t need a licence plate or insurance and you don’t need a motorcycle licence to ride it. Some e-bikes only provide electric assistance when you’re pedalling – that’s called pedal assist. Others have a handlebar-mounted throttle, like on a motorcycle or scooter, so the bike will go even if you’re not pedalling at all.
But some bikes that look like Vespas, mopeds or motorcycles technically have working pedals, even if they can’t go far on them. So, if their top e-assisted speed is 32 kilometres an hour or less, they’re still considered an e-bike under provincial rules.
We asked the city whether e-bikes that look like Vespas and motorbikes but meet the provincial definition of an e-bike are allowed in protected bike lanes. They didn’t directly answer that question.
Confusing definitions?
The city’s bylaw is confusing. It says only vehicles that require “pedalling for propulsion” are allowed in protected bike lanes. But painted lanes also allow e-bikes that can move on the motor alone – so, with a throttle – as long as they don’t go faster than 32 kilometres an hour.
Some e-bikes that look like conventional bikes have throttles, too – often they can only work for short bursts or only propel you up to a specific speed.
So are e-bikes with throttles allowed in protected bike lanes?
“An e-bike with a working throttle may be allowed in a cycle track, but only so long as the throttle is not being used to power the vehicle as long as it is in the track,” Elyse Parker, the city’s director of policy, data and strategic initiatives, said in an e-mail.
In other words, you can use the throttle on an e-bike in a painted bike lane but not in a protected bike lane.
Because there is so much confusion around e-bikes and e-devices, the city launched an education campaign last year.
Clearer rules?
Ontario has proposed new e-bike rules that would classify e-bikes that look like Vespas, motorcycles or mopeds as motor vehicles and require them to have licences, insurance and registration – even if the bike’s top speed is 32 kilometres an hour or less.
Quebec brought in its own restrictions on moped-style e-bikes in 2024.
“[Ontario] needs to clearly define these things as requiring licences, [plates] and insurance … because then the police can enforce it,” said Dianne Saxe, Toronto city councillor for University-Rosedale.
Saxe has also been pushing for clearer rules in Toronto. Toronto council has asked city staff to report back in December with recommendations to change the bylaws so the same rules apply in protected bike lanes, painted bike lanes and on multi-use paths. “Bikes belong in the cycle infrastructure – motorcycles don’t,” Saxe said.
Real problem?
So how big of a problem are these vehicles in Toronto bike lanes now?
The city said it doesn’t track complaints about illegal vehicles in bike lanes and pointed us to police. We asked Toronto police how many tickets they’d issued for illegal vehicles in bike lanes last year and how many collisions there have been involving them. A spokeswoman said that the information would require a freedom of information request.
Saxe said it’s “a massive, massive problem.”
“I’ve heard from people who are too afraid to let themselves or their families use the Bloor Street bike lanes because they’re monopolized by [riders] on these mopeds,” Saxe said.
It’s been getting worse as more gig workers for food-delivery companies have been using these vehicles, she said.
“The [vehicles] don’t belong in bike lanes, but because the rules are confusing, gig workers don’t really clearly understand that what they’re doing is illegal and dangerous,” she said. “And that needs to be clear.”
But Longfield said that not all moped- or Vespa-style e-bikes break the law.
“I’ve been in a bike lane and I’ve been passed by something that looks like a motorcycle and been really kind of annoyed in the moment,” he said. “And then I calmed down and realized that person actually wasn’t going faster than 32 kilometres per hour – it was technically legal to be there.“
While Longfield understands that riders get frustrated by these vehicles, he thinks the safety concerns sometimes get overblown.
“The majority of serious injuries and collisions and deaths on our roads are caused by cars and drivers,” he said. “They’re not caused by these e-bikes and scooters.”
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