Hourly chauffeur service in every Canadian city

What 'as directed' means

An hourly booking is a vehicle and a chauffeur reserved for a block of time, going where you direct, waiting where you stop, and charged for the hours rather than the kilometres. It is the product for any day or evening with more than two destinations, any plan that will change as it goes, and any occasion where the point is to have the car outside when you walk out rather than to summon one and wait. The clock runs from the first pickup to the last drop; stops, waiting, detours and a change of mind are all inside it.

It is available in every city on this site in every vehicle class. A Premium Sedan for the executive's day of meetings in Toronto; a Luxury SUV for the family's day in Vancouver between Stanley Park, Granville Island and the Capilano bridge; a stretch limousine for the evening in Montreal; an Executive Sprinter for the Kelowna wine tour with twelve friends; a mini coach for the delegation's site visits outside Calgary.

The meeting day

The most common hourly booking is the business day in a city: an 8 am breakfast, three meetings across town, a lunch, the 6 pm flight. Booked as separate transfers it is five fixed fares and five chauffeurs, each summoned and waited for; booked hourly it is one chauffeur who has the itinerary, who is outside when the meeting overruns, and who has already found the parking at the next address. For three or more stops the hourly fare is almost always lower than the sum of the transfers, and the assistant who moves the 3 pm to 3:30 does it by text to a chauffeur who is already there.

The corporate page covers how the hourly day sits on an account - roadshows across two cities, the visiting partner's week, the board member's site tour.

The evening

Dinner at 7, the show at 8:30, drinks after, home at midnight: the second most common hourly booking. The car is outside the restaurant when you finish, outside the theatre when the curtain falls, and the driver has not had a drink. In Toronto that is the Financial District to the Entertainment District to Yorkville; in Montreal it is Old Montreal to the Quartier des Spectacles to the Plateau; in Ottawa it is the ByWard Market to the National Arts Centre and back. The concerts and nightlife page covers the events angle; the hourly booking is how it is priced when the evening has more than one stop.

Wine tours, shopping and the day out

The Okanagan from Kelowna, Niagara-on-the-Lake from Toronto or Niagara Falls, Prince Edward County from Toronto, the Île d'Orléans from Quebec City, the Annapolis Valley from Halifax: a wine tour is an hourly booking with a chauffeur who drives, waits and does not taste. Book by the hour for the day, tell us the wineries or ask the chauffeur to suggest a route, and the SUV takes the cases home. The same booking covers the shopping day - the outlet malls in Vaughan or Niagara, the Eaton Centre and Yorkdale in Toronto, the Rideau Centre in Ottawa - with the bags in the trunk between stops rather than in your hands.

Site visits, hospital days and the awkward itinerary

Some hourly bookings are less glamorous and more useful: the real-estate afternoon looking at six houses in three suburbs; the day of hospital appointments across the University Avenue corridor in Toronto for a patient who should not be driving; the parent visiting three universities in two days; the lawyer's day at two courthouses and a client's office; the film crew's location scout. The value in all of them is the same - a car that is where you are, a chauffeur who has the list, and a fare that was known in the morning.

How the hourly fare works

Each vehicle class has an hourly rate and a minimum, both shown by the engine when you choose the hourly option for your city. The minimum varies by city and class - typically two to three hours for a sedan or SUV, longer for a stretch limousine or a Sprinter because the vehicle is held for you. Time is counted from the first pickup to the last drop and rounded to the quarter hour; waiting, stops and detours are inside it; tolls and parking incurred on your instructions are added at cost and shown on the receipt. Gratuity is not added.

Beyond about a hundred kilometres from the city an hourly booking may be re-priced as a city-to-city fixed fare instead, because a fixed fare with the return built in is usually better for you on a long drive; the engine tells you which it has done.

Choosing the class for an hourly day

The Executive Sedan is right for one or two people working through a city. The Premium Sedan is for the day when the back seat is an office - the long-wheelbase cabin and the sound insulation are worth it on the 401 or the Deerfoot. The Luxury SUV is for four to six people or a day with equipment, samples or shopping. The Executive Sprinter is for the group of up to fourteen - the wine tour, the offsite, the family reunion - and the mini coach for up to thirty-two. The stretch limousine is for the evening that is an occasion. The fleet page has the detail.

Booking and changing an hourly reservation

Choose the hourly option on the engine, the city, the vehicle class, the start time and the number of hours you expect. The confirmation shows the hourly rate and the minimum. On the day, extend by telling the chauffeur; the extra time is charged at the same rate. A first stop and a rough plan help the chauffeur prepare - the parking at the second address, the road closures for the festival - but the plan can change entirely and often does.

Where the hourly booking is used most

Toronto and Mississauga for the corporate day and the airport-to-meetings-to-airport loop. Vancouver for the family sightseeing day and the film industry's location work. Montreal and Quebec City for the evening and the tourist day with a bilingual chauffeur. Kelowna and Niagara Falls for the wine tour. Calgary and Edmonton for the site visit and the Stampede week. Halifax for the Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg day.

The hourly day in Toronto, worked through

A Monday in October. Pickup 7:45 at a Yorkville hotel, breakfast at 8 in the Financial District, a 9:30 at a law firm on King West, a 11:30 in Mississauga off the 401, lunch at 1 at the Airport Corporate Centre, a 3 pm back downtown at a hospital foundation on University Avenue, the 6:20 pm to Ottawa from Billy Bishop. Six addresses, about ninety kilometres, ten hours. Booked as six transfers it is six fares and six chauffeurs, each summoned from a lobby and waited for, and the Mississauga leg at 11 am priced on its own. Booked hourly it is one Premium Sedan, one chauffeur who has read the list and the Gardiner's current closures, waiting outside every door, and the fare is the day rate. The lawyer's meeting runs forty minutes over; the chauffeur reads a newspaper. The Mississauga client walks the passenger to the car, sees the S-Class and the man in the suit, and the meeting's tone is set for next time.

Vancouver, Montreal and the tourist day

The hourly booking is also the way to see a city without seeing its parking. In Vancouver that is Stanley Park's seawall, the totem poles at Brockton Point, Granville Island for lunch, the Capilano suspension bridge or Grouse Mountain across the Lions Gate, and Gastown for dinner, in a Luxury SUV with the chauffeur doing the bridges. In Montreal it is the Old Port, Mount Royal's lookout, the Plateau's streets, the Jean-Talon market and the Mile End bagels, with a bilingual chauffeur who orders. In Quebec City the walls, the Plains of Abraham, Montmorency Falls and the Île d'Orléans in an afternoon. In Halifax Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg are a day; in Calgary Banff and Lake Louise are a long one that the engine may price as a city-to-city fare instead, with the return built in. Destination Canada's regional guides are a fair place to start a list; the chauffeur will finish it.

Film, television and production

The hourly booking is the industry standard for talent and crew movement on a production, and Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal are three of the busiest production cities in North America. A Premium Sedan held for the day for a cast member between the hotel, the set and the studio; an SUV for the director and the equipment; a Sprinter for the crew call at 5 am. Productions book by the week on the corporate account with the call sheet as the itinerary, and the chauffeurs know which studio gates are open at which hour. Discretion is assumed; the chauffeurs sign the production's NDA as a matter of course.

Medical days and the older passenger

The hourly booking that matters most is often the quietest: a day of appointments across a hospital corridor for someone who should not be driving and should not be waiting for a taxi between them. Toronto's University Avenue has five hospitals in a kilometre; Montreal's superhospitals are at opposite ends of the island; Vancouver General and St. Paul's are across the bridge from each other. A chauffeur for the day takes the patient door to door, waits through each appointment, helps with the walker, and takes them home. Families book it for a parent; corporate accounts book it for an employee. The chauffeur knows which hospital entrance a pre-arranged car may use, which is not the emergency bay.

What the chauffeur needs from you

A first address and a start time are enough to book. A rough plan - the addresses in order, or the region and the interest - lets the chauffeur prepare: the parking at each stop, the road closures for the festival, the winery's opening hours, the hospital's drop-off. The plan can change completely on the day. What the chauffeur will not do is speed, drive beyond the legal hours, or take a passenger to an address the booking's owner has excluded, which matters for the prom-night version of an hourly booking on the prom page.

Two questions the desk is asked every week

Can the chauffeur wait while I go into a store, a house or a hospital? Yes; that is exactly what the hourly booking is for, and the chauffeur will park legally and be at the door when you come out, or circle and return on a text if there is nowhere to stop. Can I split the day - a morning booking, a gap, an afternoon booking? Yes, but it is usually cheaper to keep the car through the gap than to pay two minimums, and the engine shows both. A third question, less often asked but worth answering: the chauffeur's own hours are limited by provincial law, so a fourteen-hour day may be two chauffeurs with a handover at a stop you choose, arranged by dispatch and invisible to you except for a new face and a fresh car.

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