Summary
By default, the Cyclers route planner avoids guiding you against the traffic on one-way streets. However, there are exceptions where a one-way street might appear in your route—such as when riding is legally permitted in both directions, when it acts as a massive shortcut, or if you have explicitly enabled them in your settings. If your route includes a one-way street in the wrong direction, the navigation will display a one-way warning on the map.
How one-way routing works
The planner uses smart map details to make sure you navigate one-way streets safely and legally. Here is how it works:
1. Avoidance by default (with rare exceptions)
Normally, the planner will navigate you around one-way streets to keep your ride safe and legal. However, if using a short section of a one-way street saves you an exceptionally long detour, the planner may still include it.
2. Settings preference
You have control over how strictly the planner treats these sections. If you want to use one-way streets as shortcuts more frequently, you can manually enable them in your route settings.
3. Cycling-allowed one-way streets
Many cities have one-way streets for cars where cycling is legally permitted in both directions (often marked with signs like "Except bikes" or contraflow lanes). Cyclers recognises this data. If local map data shows that cyclists are allowed to ride both ways, the planner will treat it as a standard two-way street for you.
What happens if a one-way street is on your route?
If the planner guides you onto a one-way street in the wrong direction (and cycling is not legally permitted there), the app adapts to keep you safe:
Visual warning on the map: When navigating through a wrong-way segment, the app will display a prominent visual one-way warning directly on the map. This alerts you that you need to dismount and walk your bicycle rather than ride it.
Adjusted travel time: During route generation, the duration for any wrong-way section is calculated using an average walking speed instead of cycling speed. This ensures your estimated travel time is accurate even before you start riding.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How can I allow or block one-way streets in my settings?
Before generating a route, open your routing preferences/settings. You can toggle the option to allow one-way streets on or off depending on whether you are comfortable dismounting and walking your bike to take a shortcut.
Why did the app tell me to ride against traffic on a one-way street?
This usually happens because the underlying map data indicates that cycling is officially permitted in both directions on that specific street. If this is incorrect and cycling is actually banned there, please report the segment to OpenStreetMap or directly to us so we can update the map data.