Toronto has a transportation problem that we seem strangely reluctant to talk about.
It isn’t bicycles.
It’s what we’re allowing to masquerade as bicycles.
Electric bikes, electric mopeds, scooters and other powered devices have exploded across Toronto. Many are useful, efficient ways to move around the city and essential tools for delivery workers.
But spend an hour walking or driving around Downtown Toronto and another reality becomes obvious.
Red lights are routinely ignored. Stop signs are treated as optional. Riders travel the wrong way down streets and bike lanes. Some jump onto sidewalks to avoid traffic and then return to the roadway when convenient.
Pedestrians are increasingly expected to watch for motorized vehicles in places that should belong to pedestrians.
Toronto Police reported 514 micromobility-related collisions by August 10, 2026, including two fatal collisions involving e-scooters. During an August enforcement campaign, police targeted sidewalk riding, wrong-way riding and illegal e-moped use in bike lanes. When the campaign concluded, police reported issuing 324 tickets and warnings
Clearly, we have a problem.
When Does a Bicycle Stop Being a Bicycle?
Ontario defines a legal e-bike as having a maximum assisted speed of 32 km/h, weighing no more than 120 kilograms and having a motor of no more than 500 watts.
Think about that.
A powered vehicle weighing potentially more than 100 kilograms can travel at 32 km/h, yet its operator doesn’t need a driver’s licence, vehicle registration or automobile-style insurance.
At what point does common sense tell us this isn’t the same thing as someone pedalling a bicycle?
Toronto City Council has already asked Ontario to distinguish legitimate e-bikes from heavier moped-, scooter- and motorcycle-style vehicles, potentially requiring licensing and insurance for the latter.
I think we should go further.
Certain classes of powered bikes should require registration, visible identification and perhaps licensing and mandatory safety education.
Not because we need more bureaucracy.
Because accountability changes behaviour
Now We’re Removing Bike Lanes?
At the same time, Ontario is moving forward with restoring motor-vehicle lanes on Bloor Street and other major Toronto corridors.
Whether you love or hate the Bloor bike lanes, there is a practical question that deserves an answer:
Where are all those cyclists and e-bike riders supposed to go?
They aren’t going to disappear.
Remove sections of cycling infrastructure and riders will find another route. Some will move onto parallel residential streets. Others will crowd onto the protected cycling corridors that remain. Some will continue riding on Bloor alongside cars.
And some may move onto sidewalks when they don’t feel safe in traffic.
We could create the worst of both worlds: more concentrated traffic on remaining bike lanes and more conflict among cars, cyclists, e-bikes and pedestrians elsewhere.
Toronto’s own evaluation of the original Bloor bike-lane project found that cycling increased while the rate of bike/motor-vehicle collisions declined, and conflicts among road users dropped 44 percent.
That doesn’t mean every bike lane belongs on every street.
It means removing a bike lane isn’t the same thing as solving the problem.
Stop Fighting About Cars Versus Bikes
Toronto needs to stop treating transportation as a culture war.
Drivers aren’t the enemy. Cyclists aren’t the enemy. Delivery workers aren’t the enemy.
Dangerous behaviour is the problem.
A driver who runs a red light should face consequences. So should a cyclist. And someone operating a heavy electric vehicle at speed on a sidewalk should absolutely face consequences.
Toronto needs a connected cycling network that keeps bicycles and legitimate e-bikes predictable. Ontario needs clear classifications separating bicycles from increasingly powerful electric vehicles. Police need practical tools to enforce the rules.
And powered vehicles that cross an appropriate threshold should be registered, identifiable and, where appropriate, licensed and insured.
Technology has changed. Our streets have changed. The vehicles have changed.
The rules need to change with them.
The question isn’t whether e-bikes belong in Toronto. They’re already here.
The question is whether Toronto is prepared to insist that everyone using our streets follows the same fundamental principle:
Your right to get where you’re going doesn’t include the right to put everyone else in danger.
