Background
In the Canadian province of Ontario, there are bike lanes on some streets.
Late at night, on snowy days, some of these bike lanes are used pretty rarely.
It's difficult to hitchhike inside a city. (Source.) And it's harder to hitchhike at night than during the day. (Source.)
But buses can be infrequent at night. It may sometimes be faster to hitchhike. Also, hitchhiking is free.
At a traffic light, the standard hitchhiking strategy is to get drivers to open their window a tiny bit, then to ask them for a lift. If there's an empty bike lane between you and the car, this is probably more difficult.
It may not be wise to step into the bike lane. (Bicycles are fairly quiet, and a cyclist may be text messaging instead of watching for pedestrians in his lane.)
But I still wonder whether or not it's legal to step into the lane, in order to ask for a ride.
The relevant laws
Here are the relevant excerpts from the Ontario Highway Traffic Act:
1 (1). In this Act:
"roadway" means the part of the highway that is improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic, but does not include the shoulder.
"vehicle" includes a ... bicycle.
177 (1). No person, while on the roadway, shall solicit a ride from the driver of a motor vehicle other than a public passenger conveyance.
My questions
A) If almost no cyclists use a bike lane, is the lane still considered "ordinarily used for vehicular traffic"?
B) In Ontario, is it legal to step into a seldom-used bike lane in order to solicit a ride from a car driver?