canada traffic ontario transportation
In Ontario, is it legal to step into a seldom-used bike lane in order to ask a car driver for a ride?
<h1>Background</h1>

<p>In the Canadian province of Ontario, there are bike lanes on some streets.</p>

<p>Late at night, on snowy days, some of these bike lanes are used pretty rarely.</p>

<p>It's difficult to hitchhike inside a city.  <a href="http://hitchwiki.org/en/Top_tips#Getting_to_the_nearest_city" rel="nofollow noreferrer">(Source.)</a>  And it's harder to hitchhike at night than during the day.  <a href="http://hitchwiki.org/en/Hitchhiking_at_night" rel="nofollow noreferrer">(Source.)</a></p>

<p>But buses can be infrequent at night.  It may sometimes be faster to hitchhike.  Also, hitchhiking is free.</p>

<p>At a traffic light, the <a href="http://hitchwiki.org/en/Traffic_light_hitchhiking" rel="nofollow noreferrer">standard hitchhiking strategy</a> is to get drivers to open their window a tiny bit, then to ask them for a lift.  If there's an empty bike lane between you and the car, this is probably more difficult.</p>

<p>It may not be wise to step into the bike lane.  (Bicycles are fairly quiet, and a cyclist may be text messaging instead of watching for pedestrians in his lane.)</p>

<p>But I still wonder whether or not it's legal to step into the lane, in order to ask for a ride.</p>

<h1>The relevant laws</h1>

<p>Here are the relevant excerpts from the Ontario <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/on/laws/stat/rso-1990-c-h8/latest/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Highway Traffic Act</a>:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>1 (1). In this Act:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>"roadway" means the part of the highway that is improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic, but does not include the shoulder.</p></li>
<li><p>"vehicle" includes a ... bicycle.</p></li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>177 (1). No person, while on the roadway, shall solicit a ride from the driver of a motor vehicle other than a public passenger conveyance.</p></li>
</ul>

<h1>My questions</h1>

<p>A)  If almost no cyclists use a bike lane, is the lane still considered "ordinarily used for vehicular traffic"?</p>

<p>B)  In Ontario, is it legal to step into a seldom-used bike lane in order to solicit a ride from a car driver?</p>

<p>"Ordinarily used" means its ordinary use. The usage that is normal for a bicycle lane is to ride bicycles in it. That remains true even if no bicycles are ever actually ridden on it.</p>

<p>The law you quote directly states that it <strong>is</strong> part of the roadway. The definition doesn't require the bicycle lane to meet all of the conditions listed, just at least one of them.</p>

<p>Since a bike lane is designed not just for vehicular traffic but a specific kind of vehicular traffic, it would be considered roadway — again, even if nobody ever used it for cycling at all.</p>

<p>Since doing so is explicitly disallowed, it would be a breach of law to do it.</p>
