City-to-city black car service - long-distance chauffeured drives across Canada

Why a long drive is a chauffeur's best product

Between two Canadian cities there are usually three ways to travel: fly, take the train, or drive. Flying is fast in the air and slow on the ground - the airport at each end adds two hours and a car at both. The train runs where it runs and when it runs. Driving yourself is the whole day at the wheel. A chauffeured drive is the fourth option, and for two or more people with luggage it is often the fastest door to door and the cheapest per seat: one fixed fare, the departure time you choose, a stop where you like, work or sleep on the way, and the car is at the destination's door rather than at a terminal. It is the product corporate travellers use for Toronto-Ottawa and Calgary-Edmonton, families use for the airport-to-resort run, and everyone uses when the last flight has gone.

Every city-to-city drive on this site is quoted as a single fixed fare for the vehicle class, with the chauffeur's return positioning built in - which is why a chauffeur never declines a long trip the way an app driver might - and with tolls and the stops you choose shown at booking.

The corridors we drive most

Toronto to Montreal is the country's busiest corridor: about 540 kilometres on the 401 and the 20, five and a half hours off-peak, six in weather. A Premium Sedan with two executives working the whole way arrives downtown before the flight-plus-airports alternative would, and the Montreal page covers the arrival. Toronto to Ottawa is 450 kilometres and four and a half hours on the 401 and the 416; the government and tech traffic between the two cities is constant. Toronto to Niagara Falls is 130 kilometres and ninety minutes on the QEW, the most-booked short intercity run in the country - the Niagara page has the day-trip shape. Toronto to Muskoka is two and a half hours north on the 400 to the lodges and the cottages. Toronto to Kitchener-Waterloo and London are the 401 west, an hour and two hours; Toronto to Kingston is three.

Calgary to Banff is 130 kilometres and ninety minutes on the Trans-Canada with the Rockies rising the whole way, and Calgary to Lake Louise an hour beyond; the airport-to-resort SUV with skis in the back is the Calgary page's signature booking. Calgary to Edmonton is 300 kilometres and three hours on the QE2, the province's business corridor. Vancouver to Whistler is 120 kilometres and two hours on the Sea-to-Sky, the most beautiful drive we do and the one most affected by weather; Vancouver to Victoria is the ferry from Tsawwassen with the car aboard, or a chauffeur at each end. Montreal to Quebec City is 250 kilometres and two and a half hours on the 20 or the 40; Montreal to Ottawa two hours on the 417; Montreal to Mont-Tremblant ninety minutes on the 15. Halifax to the South Shore - Peggy's Cove, Lunenburg - and to the Annapolis Valley are the Maritime day trips. Winnipeg to Brandon, Saskatoon to Regina, Kelowna to the wineries and Edmonton to Jasper complete the list of the ones we quote weekly.

Distances and times are approximate planning figures; the engine prices the exact addresses. The provincial road services - Ontario 511, Alberta 511, DriveBC, Québec 511 - are what dispatch reads before every long drive.

How the fare works

One fixed fare for the journey, by vehicle class, shown before you book. It includes the chauffeur, the fuel, the return positioning of the car, taxes, and a reasonable stop for a meal or a photograph. It does not include tolls - the 407 in Ontario, the Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island - or park entry fees, both shown at booking, and it does not include the chauffeur's overnight if you keep the car at the destination for a return the next day, which is quoted separately and is usually the better value for a two-day trip. Waiting at a stop beyond the included allowance is charged at the class rate. Gratuity is not added.

For a round trip in one day - the Niagara day, the Banff day, the Stratford performance - the return is quoted with the outbound and the chauffeur waits at the destination inside the fare. For a one-way with the return on another day, book two one-ways or ask the desk to hold the chauffeur; for a two-day trip with the car needed at the destination, the hourly chauffeur by the day is often the right structure.

Vehicle choice for the long drive

The Premium Sedan is the executive's choice for the corridor: the long-wheelbase cabin, the reclining seat, the quiet that lets two people work for five hours. The Luxury SUV is the family's and the skier's, with the ride height for the Coquihalla and the Trans-Canada in January and the cargo bay for the equipment. The Executive Sprinter takes a team or a wedding party of fourteen with luggage and is cheaper per seat than three sedans. The stretch limousine is for the wine-country day, not the five-hour corridor. Every vehicle runs winter tyres from November; Quebec requires them by law from the start of December to mid-March, and the mountain highways in British Columbia require them or chains on signed sections from October.

The airport-to-resort transfer

The most-booked version of a city-to-city drive begins at an airport. Land at Calgary, Luxury SUV to Banff or Canmore with a grocery stop; land at Vancouver, SUV to Whistler up the Sea-to-Sky; land at Toronto Pearson, SUV to Blue Mountain or a Muskoka lodge; land at Montreal, SUV to Tremblant; land at Kelowna, SUV to Big White. The booking carries the flight number so the pickup tracks the arrival, the fixed fare covers the drive and the return, and the travel desk books the resort. The British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec pages carry the seasonal road notes for each.

Stops, meals and the chauffeur's day

A stop for lunch in Kingston on the Toronto-Montreal run, a photograph at the Lake Louise turnoff, a coffee at the Britannia Beach lookout on the Sea-to-Sky: the fare includes a reasonable stop and the chauffeur will suggest one. Longer stops - the winery lunch, the two-hour meeting in the middle - are priced at the class's waiting rate and shown on the receipt. The chauffeur's driving hours are limited by law, so a drive over about ten hours may be two chauffeurs with a handover, arranged by dispatch.

Weather, closures and the plan B

Long drives in Canada have weather. The Sea-to-Sky closes for avalanche control; the Trans-Canada through the Rockies closes for the same; the 401 east of Toronto closes for pile-ups in lake-effect snow; the QE2 has ground blizzards; the Coquihalla has all of the above. Dispatch reads the provincial 511 feeds before every departure and the chauffeur has the alternative route and the decision point. If a highway is closed and the trip cannot go, it is cancelled without charge; if it can go by a longer route, the fixed fare stands. Environment Canada's warnings and the 511 feeds are the sources; the provinces pages give the seasonal notes.

Corporate corridors

The Toronto-Ottawa, Toronto-Montreal and Calgary-Edmonton corridors are where corporate accounts use the intercity product most: a Premium Sedan for two partners to the client's office and back the same day, priced as one fare, with the working hours in the car counted as working hours. Government relations firms, law firms and the energy sector between Calgary and Edmonton book it weekly, and the account's standing booking makes the weekly run a one-line cancellation by exception.

Booking a long drive

Enter the pickup and the destination and the engine prices the fixed fare by class; add the stops and the return. For a multi-day trip, a stop with a long wait, or anything the engine cannot see - a fishing lodge with no street address, a mine site, a ski hill's rental shop - call the desk and it is built by hand and confirmed in writing.

The Toronto-Montreal corridor, hour by hour

Leave a downtown Toronto office at 7 am in a Premium Sedan and the chauffeur is on the 401 east by 7:20, past Oshawa by 8, Port Hope by 8:30 and Kingston by 10, where the stop is a coffee at the waterfront and a stretch of the legs. Cornwall by 11:15, the Quebec border at Rivière-Beaudette and the switch from the 401 to the 20 by 11:30, the Champlain Bridge and downtown Montreal by 12:30. Five and a half hours, two working sessions and a break, and the car is at the client's door on René-Lévesque rather than at Trudeau's arrivals curb with a second car still to find. The return on the same day is a 6 pm departure and a 11:30 pm arrival home; the return the next morning is the chauffeur's overnight and a fresh start. Bilingual chauffeurs are standard on the corridor and the Montreal page covers the city end. VIA Rail's corridor timetable is the honest comparison, and for two people with meetings at both ends the car wins on time and on the work done in it.

Calgary to Banff and the mountain parks

The Trans-Canada from Calgary's airport to Banff is ninety minutes on a clear day, passing Canmore at seventy and the park gate at eighty, where the Parks Canada entry pass is checked and the chauffeur has it. Lake Louise is another forty minutes, Jasper another three and a half hours up the Icefields Parkway, which is closed in winter storms and glorious in September. The Luxury SUV is the mountain vehicle: ride height for the drifted shoulders, a cargo bay for the skis and the boots, and winter tyres that the highway signs require from October to April. Wildlife on the road is not a figure of speech on the Trans-Canada at dusk; the chauffeurs drive it accordingly. Parks Canada's road reports and Alberta 511 are checked before every departure, and the Alberta page has the seasonal detail.

Vancouver to Whistler on the Sea-to-Sky

From YVR the Sea-to-Sky Highway runs north from Horseshoe Bay along Howe Sound through Squamish to Whistler in about two hours, and it is the most beautiful drive on this site. It is also the most weather-dependent: DriveBC closes sections for avalanche control after heavy snow, and the chauffeur reads the DriveBC feed before the pickup and again at Squamish. The Luxury SUV with the skis in the back is the standard booking; the Sprinter takes a ski group of fourteen and their bags. The return to the airport on the Sunday with the flight number on the booking is where the fixed fare and the tracking earn their keep. The British Columbia page has the detail.

Niagara: the ninety-minute drive that is a whole day

Toronto to Niagara Falls is ninety minutes on the QEW and the most-booked short intercity run in Canada, because the drive is the beginning of a day: the falls themselves, the boat, the Niagara Parkway to Niagara-on-the-Lake, a winery lunch, the Shaw Festival matinee, dinner overlooking the falls, home by ten. Booked as a round trip with the chauffeur waiting, or as an hourly day when the stops multiply, in an SUV that brings the wine home. The QEW on a summer Saturday is slow at the Burlington Skyway and the chauffeur leaves early; the Ontario page has the road notes.

Multi-day and the touring itinerary

Some drives are the trip: the Cabot Trail from Halifax over three days, the Icefields Parkway from Banff to Jasper, the Okanagan from Kelowna to Osoyoos and back, the Gaspé loop from Quebec City. The desk builds these as a chauffeur held by the day with the overnights quoted, the travel desk books the hotels along the route, and the SUV carries the luggage so the passengers carry nothing. A touring itinerary is priced in writing before the first day and the chauffeur has the whole plan.

What the chauffeur will not do on a long drive

Speed. Drive beyond the legal hours - a ten-hour day may be two chauffeurs. Take the mountain highway when DriveBC or Alberta 511 has closed it. Skip the winter tyres. Skip the park pass. Leave without the flight number on an airport-to-resort run. And, on the corridor, take the phone call in the cabin; the passengers are working.

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