Getting around Oak Bay: walking, cycling and transit times

à portée’s map shows the trip on foot, by bike and by transit from every populated block in Oak Bay to the nearest grocery store, pharmacy, school, park and other everyday places. It is free, with no account.

residents in 2021: 17,990
within a 15-minute walk of a grocery store: 56%
typical walk to a grocery store: 14 min
of 1,000 communities for groceries on foot: 75th

Open the Oak Bay map

Municipal boundaries: Statistics Canada.

Travel times across Oak Bay

Each block is coloured by the trip from it to the nearest place of the kind you pick, on foot, by bike or by transit. Move the map, or open it in à portée for any address and all 29 kinds of place.

Transit times are for a weekday at peak hours. A free plus account adds a mode and a time limit for each place, and transit at night on weekdays and at midday on Saturday and Sunday.

Getting around Oak Bay

The share of Oak Bay residents within a trip of each place, and the typical trip, by each way of getting there the free map offers.

Place	On foot	By bike	By transit, weekday morning peak
Grocery store	35%typical 14 min	85%typical 5 min	35%typical 14 min
Pharmacy	35%typical 14 min	86%typical 5 min	35%typical 13 min
Park	95%typical 5 min	>99%typical 2 min	95%typical 5 min
Elementary school	39%typical 12 min	91%typical 4 min	39%typical 12 min

Place	On foot	By bike	By transit, weekday morning peak
Grocery store	56%typical 14 min	97%typical 5 min	58%typical 14 min
Pharmacy	55%typical 14 min	98%typical 5 min	59%typical 13 min
Park	>99%typical 5 min	>99%typical 2 min	>99%typical 5 min
Elementary school	74%typical 12 min	98%typical 4 min	76%typical 12 min

Place	On foot	By bike	By transit, weekday morning peak
Grocery store	69%typical 14 min	99%typical 5 min	76%typical 14 min
Pharmacy	73%typical 14 min	>99%typical 5 min	80%typical 13 min
Park	>99%typical 5 min	>99%typical 2 min	>99%typical 5 min
Elementary school	89%typical 12 min	>99%typical 4 min	90%typical 12 min

Place	On foot	By bike	By transit, weekday morning peak
Grocery store	93%typical 14 min	>99%typical 5 min	97%typical 14 min
Pharmacy	96%typical 14 min	>99%typical 5 min	98%typical 13 min
Park	100%typical 5 min	100%typical 2 min	100%typical 5 min
Elementary school	97%typical 12 min	>99%typical 4 min	99%typical 12 min

Cycling and transit follow the street network, hills included. A transit trip includes the walk to and from the stops, at the median departure of a weekday morning peak, and is never slower than walking the whole way. Within 15 minutes means under 16: times are rounded down to the whole minute.

Oak Bay in numbers

56% of Oak Bay residents live within a 15-minute walk of a grocery store, compared with 48% across British Columbia and 45% across Canada.

Residents within a walk of each place

Place	10 min	15 min	20 min	30 min	Typical walk
Grocery store	35%	56%	69%	93%	14 min
Pharmacy	35%	55%	73%	96%	14 min
Park	95%	>99%	>99%	100%	5 min
Elementary school	39%	74%	89%	97%	12 min

Within a 15-minute walk, beside British Columbia and Canada

Place	Oak Bay	British Columbia	Canada	Rank among the 1,000 communities with a page
Grocery store	56%	48%	45%	75th of 1,00018th of 155 in British Columbia
Pharmacy	55%	48%	51%	124th of 1,00016th of 155 in British Columbia
Park	>99%	86%	82%	25th of 1,0008th of 155 in British Columbia
Elementary school	74%	58%	55%	46th of 1,00012th of 155 in British Columbia

Share of Oak Bay residents within each minute’s walk of the nearest grocery store

Oak Bay British Columbia

Communities of a similar size

The communities closest to Oak Bay in population, and the share of their residents within a 15-minute walk of a grocery store. Communities are 2021 census subdivisions (cities, towns, counties and other municipalities), compared within their municipal boundaries.

Community	Residents	Grocery within 15 min
Stony Plain	17,993	30%
Oak Bay	17,990	56%
North Grenville	17,964	19%
Loyalist	17,943	29%
Deux-Montagnes	17,915	26%

More places across the Capital Regional District census division

The Capital Regional District census division has 415,451 residents, 4% of them in Oak Bay. The share of them within a 15-minute walk of more kinds of place:

Convenience store50%
Café57%
Bakery39%
Library21%
Playground79%
Childcare53%
Community centre34%
Clinic38%

Other communities in the Capital Regional District area

Beside each community is the share of its residents who can reach a grocery store within a 15-minute walk.

Shares of 2021 residents of populated census blocks, on foot along the street network. How the walking times are computed

Travel times are our best estimates from open data published October 8, 2026 and can contain errors. Walking and cycling times are rounded down, so “within 15 minutes” means under 16. Check before an important decision, and tell us if something looks wrong.

Questions

Is Oak Bay walkable?

One measure is the share of residents within a 15-minute walk of everyday places. In Oak Bay, 56% of residents live within a 15-minute walk of a grocery store, compared with 48% across British Columbia and 45% across Canada. On this measure, Oak Bay ranks 75th of 1,000 communities.

Can you get around Oak Bay by bike?

By bike, 97% of Oak Bay residents reach a grocery store within 15 minutes, 98% a pharmacy, over 99% a park and 98% an elementary school. On foot, 56% are within 15 minutes of a grocery store. The typical trip to a grocery store takes 5 min by bike and 14 min on foot. Cycling times follow the street network, hills included; they don’t say whether a street is safe or comfortable to ride.

Does transit help you reach everyday places in Oak Bay?

By transit at the weekday morning peak, 58% of Oak Bay residents reach a grocery store within 15 minutes, against 56% on foot and 97% by bike. These times include the walk to and from the stops and the wait. The typical trip takes 14 min by transit and 14 min on foot. Where transit would be slower than walking, the time shown is the walk.

Is Oak Bay a 15-minute city?

It depends on which everyday places you count. Within a 15-minute walk, 56% of residents reach a grocery store, 55% a pharmacy, over 99% a park and 74% an elementary school. These figures count each place separately; open the map to see how many residents have all four within 15 minutes, for the places you choose.

How does Oak Bay compare with communities of a similar size?

In Oak Bay, 56% of residents live within a 15-minute walk of a grocery store; in the communities closest to it in population, the share is 30% in Stony Plain, 19% in North Grenville, 29% in Loyalist and 26% in Deux-Montagnes.

Where does this data come from?

Walking, cycling and transit times follow the street network, hills included, from each populated 2021 census block to the nearest place of each kind. Transit uses the operators’ published timetables at the weekday morning peak. Places come from OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps, with health care and schools checked against Statistics Canada’s open databases. Shares are weighted by 2021 population. Data published 8 October 2026. How the times are computed

Oak Bay in brief

Province: British Columbia
Census division: Capital Regional District
Census subdivision code: 5917030
Residents in 2021: 17,990
Data published: 8 October 2026

Provinces: Natural Earth.

Elsewhere

Sources: places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL) and the Overture Maps Foundation; census blocks, 2021 populations and municipal boundaries adapted from Statistics Canada under the Open Government Licence – Canada; transit times from the operators’ published timetables; elevation from Natural Resources Canada; province outlines from Natural Earth; links from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia and Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA). Figures derived from OpenStreetMap are under the ODbL. Data sources and licences

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