Peterborough, Ontario

Peterborough is a small city in central Ontario. It is a regional centre, with a population of 80,000. There is a university, a college, and a vibrant city centre with interesting pubs and a good music and arts scene.

The city is served by a regular bus service from Toronto, and a bus service from Ottawa. There is no regularly scheduled public transit service to points north of the city. Peterborough has its own public transit system with city limits, but it is hopeless, and you can walk faster to your destination than it would take you on the bus.

Hitchhiking out

There are a some excellent spots to hitchhike out of the city.

South towards Oshawa and Toronto

Walk to the onramp onto Hwy 115 from the Parkway. There is an excellent shoulder just after traffic lights where drivers will have the chance to check you out and pull over safely. Do not accept rides that drop you off before Oshawa, traffic is light on most other onramps between Peterborough and the Shwa, and you will likely wait a long time. This place is a good spot to stand if going to Montreal or Kingston, get off at Highway 28, and go south to Cobourg, and east on the 401 from there.

East towards Ottawa

There is about the best place a hitchhiker could hope for here: Stand on the shoulder of Highway 7, just after Old Keene Rd, in front of the Country Style. This is where 115 and Lansdowne street merge, and most eastbound traffic must pass this point, AND there's a coffee shop just there, AND a safe place for drivers to pull over. Keep in mind that it may be a bit difficult to get lifts from some of the smaller centres on the way, you may have some longish waits.

North towards Lakefield and Bancroft

Stand on Water street, just past the turnoff for Trent U. Traffic must slow here, and there is a safe place to pull over. This road leads into the town of Lakefield. Follow the main road in Lakefield through, the road out becomes highway 28 North, and will take you to Bancroft. You can also stand on Parkhill Rd E, just E of Television road, and travel to highway 28, and hitch from there north, to avoid Lakefield.

West towards Lindsay and Orillia

Get up to Lindsay Rd and Chemong, if possible (it's a long walk!). Lindsay Rd turns into highway 7B, and goes straight to Lindsay, and hits highway 12, which goes north to Orillia, or south to Whitby. To get to this point, you may attempt instead to hithchike west on Parkhill road, and get to highway 7, and go north from there to 7B.

West towards Newmarket and York Region

Use the parkhill/115 onramp, and get dropped off at the 7A/Port Perry exit. follow that road west to 35, go north, then jog back onto 7A. Port Perry is fairly easy to get a lift out of, carry on through Goodwood until Woodbine, where you can hitch north or south depending on destination. NOTE: York region is tough to get a lift in, it is populated by suburbanites. Try and get as close to a centre like Aurora or Newmarket as possible, and use regional transit within.

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