A chauffeured black car from London, Ontario to Toronto with LondonLimo.net is a business sedan, SUV, van or Sprinter door to door: 195 km east on Highway 401, about two and a quarter hours off-peak to the Financial District and longer into the Gardiner at 8 a.m., at a fixed all-in rate shown on the reservation engine before you confirm - a planning figure of $320-380 plus HST for a sedan, $370-430 for an SUV, $580-680 for a Sprinter. The head-office towers on Bay Street, the hospitals on University Avenue, Yorkville, the Distillery District, Scotiabank Arena, Rogers Centre, BMO Field, Union Station and the hotels are all addresses the chauffeurs know; a Toronto day with stops is an hourly booking, and Pearson on the way is a stop.
Why Londoners go, and why they book a car for it
Toronto is where London's companies have their parents, their bankers, their lawyers and their biggest clients; where the specialists at Toronto General, Sick Kids, Princess Margaret and Sunnybrook see the patients London's hospitals refer; where the Leafs, the Raptors, the Jays and the touring shows play; where the airport is; and where a Saturday of Yorkville, the ROM and dinner in the Entertainment District is a day trip. Every one of those journeys starts at a London door and ends at a Toronto door, and VIA Rail serves only the traveller who is going from one station to the other with a carry-on. The car is for the meeting on Bay Street at 9 with the papers in the trunk, the family with a child at Sick Kids, the group of six to the arena, the couple at the Four Seasons, and the executive who wants the 401 to be two hours of work.
| From downtown London to | Sedan | SUV | Sprinter | Off-peak time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Financial District, Union Station, the hotels | $320-380 | $370-430 | $580-680 | 2 h 15 |
| University Avenue hospitals, Yorkville, Bloor Street | $320-380 | $370-430 | $580-680 | 2 h 15 |
| Scotiabank Arena, Rogers Centre, BMO Field, the Distillery | $320-380 | $370-430 | $580-680 | 2 h 15 |
| North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke | $300-370 | $350-420 | $560-660 | 2 h |
| Toronto day, hourly, chauffeur waiting | $95-115 / h | $115-135 / h | $145-175 / h | 3 h minimum plus the run |
Figures are LondonLimo.net planning ranges before HST, one way; the engine quotes the exact addresses and date. A stop at Pearson on the way is priced as a stop.
The drive, hour by hour
Off-peak: Wellington Road or Highbury to the 401, east through Woodstock, Cambridge and Milton, the 401 to the 427 south and the Gardiner east into the core, or the 401 to the Allen and Bathurst for midtown - two hours and a quarter to King and Bay. At 7 a.m. the Gardiner from the 427 adds thirty minutes and the chauffeur may take the 407 from Milton to the 427 or the 401 across the top to the DVP, which is the chauffeur's judgment and in the fixed rate. Friday afternoons out of Toronto toward London are slow until 7 p.m.; Sunday evenings the same. The chauffeur reads Ontario 511 before leaving and the return time is moved by text from wherever you are.
The Financial District and the business day
The bank towers at King and Bay, the law firms on Wellington and Adelaide, the parents' head offices on Front Street and in the Bay-Adelaide and Brookfield Place complexes: the chauffeur drops at the tower's porte-cochere or the loading bay the building allows, and for a day of three meetings waits nearby on an hourly booking at Toronto's hourly rate, with the papers, the coats and the laptop in the car. The corporate account makes it a two-minute booking by the assistant and one line on the invoice; the corporate chauffeur service page describes the account.
University Avenue: the hospital run
Toronto General, Mount Sinai, Sick Kids, Princess Margaret and Toronto Western along University Avenue, Sunnybrook in the north, St. Michael's on Queen: London's hospitals refer patients to them for the procedures only Toronto does, and the family's day is a chauffeured run with the patient in the back, the chauffeur waiting at the hospital's designated entrance, and the drive home when the appointment ends whenever it ends. Household accounts let a relative in another city book it; the hospitals and medical page describes how the medical run is handled in London and beyond.
The arena, the ballpark and the concert
Scotiabank Arena for the Leafs and the Raptors, the Rogers Centre for the Jays, BMO Field for TFC and the Argos, Budweiser Stage and the Coliseum for the summer tours, Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall: the chauffeur drops at the gate, waits in the city on an hourly booking or returns for a fixed-rate pickup at a time you move by text, and a Sprinter of fourteen at $580-680 one way is $45 a head - less than the train and the streetcar with a group, from your driveway. The concerts, sports and events page has the detail.
Yorkville, the museums, the shopping and the Saturday
The ROM and the AGO, Bloor Street's shops, Yorkville's restaurants, the Eaton Centre, the Distillery District's Christmas market, the CN Tower and Ripley's for the children, the Toronto Zoo, Casa Loma: a family's Toronto Saturday is an SUV by the hour from 9 until the drive home, with the chauffeur parked nearby and the bags in the car. The travel desk adds a hotel for a weekend.
The hotels, from the chauffeur's seat
The Royal York and the Fairmont across from Union; the Four Seasons, the Hazelton and the Park Hyatt in Yorkville; the Ritz-Carlton, the Shangri-La and the St. Regis on the University-Wellington axis; the Delta and the InterContinental beside the convention centre; the airport hotels on Dixon Road. The chauffeur knows each porte-cochere and each loading zone, and the travel desk books the room on the same file as the chauffeurs.
Pearson and Billy Bishop on the way
A Toronto trip that starts or ends with a flight is one booking: the Pearson page has the terminals and Billy Bishop the island; a stop at either on the way to or from downtown is priced as a stop. The reverse - a Pearson arrival, a Toronto meeting, and the run to London - is a chain the desk prices in a minute.
Mississauga, North York and the suburbs
Mississauga's office parks and Square One are on the Mississauga page; North York's Yonge corridor, Scarborough's hospitals and campuses, Etobicoke's plants and the Vaughan and Markham business parks are Toronto addresses on the engine with a slightly lower figure than the core, and the 401 across the top or the 407 is the route.
Students and Western's Toronto
The University of Toronto, Ryerson-turned-TMU and York draw London students, and Western graduates start careers on Bay Street: the September move with a car full of boxes, the parents' visit, the graduation; and the reverse for Toronto students at Western. A van or an SUV, a fixed rate, and a household account.
Winter on the 401
The London-Woodstock stretch closes in lake-effect squalls a few times each winter; the chauffeur reads 511, leaves earlier or routes north by Highway 7/8 to the 401 at Kitchener, and the fixed rate does not change. Winter tires from November to April; all-wheel-drive SUVs on squall days; a Toronto hotel through the travel desk when a storm makes the evening run home foolish.
The honest alternatives
VIA Rail from London to Union is two hours and pleasant for a solo traveller with a carry-on going downtown; the UP Express links Union to Pearson; the TTC is good once you are there; the intercity bus is slow. For door to door, bags, a group, an early hour, a hospital day, a return that moves, or the two hours as a working session, the chauffeured fixed rate is the answer, and the comparison guide does the arithmetic.
Three Toronto bookings, as they actually ran
A board meeting, Tuesday. A luxury sedan from Old North at 6 a.m. to a tower on Bay Street for 8:30, waiting by the hour through the meeting and a lunch, and home by 5. On the corporate account; eleven hours in all.
A child at Sick Kids, Thursday. An executive SUV from Westmount at 5:30 a.m. for an 8 a.m. appointment, the chauffeur at the Elizabeth Street entrance through the day, and home at 6 with a sleeping child. A household account paid by a grandparent.
Six friends to a Jays game, Saturday. A luxury van from Byron at 3, the Rogers Centre gate at 5:30, a bar on King Street after, and home at 1 a.m. Two fixed rates and a stop; nobody drove.
Planning figures. Rates are LondonLimo.net planning ranges before HST, one way from downtown London; the engine quotes the exact addresses, date and vehicle. Venue, hospital and hotel names describe where we drive and imply no affiliation.
Queen's Park, the courts and the official day
The Ontario Legislature at Queen's Park, the ministries along University Avenue and in the towers behind it, the Superior Court on University and the Court of Appeal at Osgoode Hall, the regulators and the agencies: London's law firms, public bodies and the university send people to them, and the Toronto official day is an hourly booking with a chauffeur who knows the loading zones at Osgoode and the security at Queen's Park. The Ontario Legislature's site publishes the sitting calendar; the corporate chauffeur service page describes how a public body's account works.
The convention centre, the CNE and the trade shows
The Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Front Street, the Enercare Centre at Exhibition Place, the CNE in August, the Royal Winter Fair in November, the auto show in February, TIFF in September: a London company's conference or exhibition trip is a chauffeured run with the display in the vehicle and the chauffeur waiting by the hour, and a Sprinter for the team; a family's CNE or Royal day is an SUV by the hour. The MTCC, the CNE and TIFF publish their calendars; the travel desk books the hotel.
Toronto's airports and the connection through the city
A London traveller occasionally lands at Pearson and flies on from Billy Bishop, or the reverse - a Porter island flight from Ottawa and an Air Canada transatlantic from Terminal 1 - and the transfer across the city is a fixed-rate chauffeured run of forty minutes with the bags, rather than the UP Express and a taxi. The Pearson and Billy Bishop pages describe both; the private jet and FBO page the general-aviation side.
Groups, weddings and the coach to the city
A wedding at a Toronto venue with sixty London guests, a company's night at the Jays for the whole office, a Western department's day at a Toronto conference, a church group to a concert at the Coliseum: a coach through our partner fleet from London and back the same night, quoted from the schedule with a manifest as the group transportation page describes, or two Sprinters for a smaller party.
