The 10 Most Bike-Friendly Cities in Canada in 2020

Redfin Unveils the Best Canadian Cities for Biking

by
Updated on October 7th, 2020

Most bikeable cities in Canada

Redfin releases its inaugural Bike Score ratings of Canadian cities, neighborhoods and addresses.

Victoria, Vancouver and Montréal are the most bike-friendly cities in Canada. 

That’s according to rankings from Redfin, which for the first time ever has used its Bike Score® tool to rate Canadian cities, neighborhoods, and addresses. Scores are based on several factors including access to bicycle lanes, road connectivity, and hilliness. Cities where daily errands can be accomplished by bike score 90 points and above, cities where biking is convenient for most trips score 70-89 points and cities with some cycling infrastructure score 50-69 points.

Below is a ranking of the top 10 Canadian cities (with populations of more than 50,000) for biking:

Rank City Bike Score
1 Victoria, B.C. 80
2 Vancouver, B.C. 79
3 Montréal, Que. 73
4 Longueuil, Que. 70
5 Brossard, Que. 68
6 Ottawa, Ont. 64
7 Waterloo, Ont. 64
8 Toronto, Ont. 61
9 Winnipeg, Man. 61
10 Richmond, B.C. 61

Victoria, British Columbia has a Bike Score of 80, followed closely by Vancouver, with a score of 79. Victoria has a network of hundreds of kilometers of bike lanes and bike paths, including the Galloping Goose Regional Trail, which bikers use both for commuting and recreation. Vancouver’s bike-path infrastructure, popular with commuters, spans more than 300 kilometers. Biking accounted for more than 7% of all trips taken in Vancouver in 2018, up from 4.4% of trips in 2013.

“Vancouver has gone through significant reconstruction to make it as bike-friendly as possible over the last decade,” said local Redfin agent Brooks Findlay. “The bridges have been retrofitted with bike lanes and it’s almost impossible to find a street downtown that’s not marked with bike routes. For many of my homebuying clients, living close to both transit and bike lanes is a priority. The number of people who commute by bike has gone up noticeably over the last several years, and tourists prefer to see the city by bike, especially on sunny days.”

Victoria and Vancouver have similar scores to Minneapolis (84) and Portland, OR (82), the most bikeable cities in the U.S., but the scores are well above their neighbor to the south, Seattle, which clocks in at 70. Canada’s third most bikeable city, Montréal, has the same score73as Chicago and Denver, the third and fourth most bikeable places in the U.S. 

Redfin has Bike Score information for more than 300 cities in Canada. Every Canadian city with Walk Score rankings has Bike Score rankings, as well. 

Go to Walk Score’s website to see the Bike Score rankings for U.S. and Canadian cities.

Check out the most bikeable U.S. cities of 2020

Dana Anderson

Dana Anderson

As a data journalist at Redfin, Dana Anderson writes about the numbers behind real estate trends. Redfin is a full-service real estate brokerage that uses modern technology to make clients smarter and faster. For more information about working with a Redfin real estate agent to buy or sell a home, visit our Why Redfin page.

Email Dana

Be the first to see the latest real estate news:

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By submitting your email you agree to Redfin’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Scroll to Top