City-to-city car service from Toronto

The long drive, chauffeured

A city-to-city car service is a chauffeured drive between Toronto and another city - Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Windsor, Niagara, Buffalo, Detroit - in a sedan, an S-Class, an SUV or a Sprinter, with the passenger working, sleeping or looking out of the window for the hours that a flight would have spent on the airport at each end. It is priced two ways, and this page is mostly about which to choose: a flat fare for a one-way drive, fixed by route and class before the car moves, or an hourly booking where the car goes out and comes back with you.

The day-trip board gives the distance, the drive time and the usual booking for seventeen destinations; each destination's page has the road, the season and the venues. This page is the pricing logic and the practical detail that applies to all of them.

Flat fare or hourly: the rule

One way, or a return with a long gap: flat fare. Toronto to Montreal on Monday and Montreal to Toronto on Thursday are two one-way flat fares, each fixed by route and class, with the car's return position built into the price so that no driver declines because the trip ends far from home. The same for a one-way to Ottawa, London, Windsor or Detroit, and for a Pearson-to-Niagara or Pearson-to-Muskoka transfer for a visitor. Choose Route in the engine.

Out and back the same day, with stops: hourly. A day in Niagara, Muskoka, Blue Mountain, Prince Edward County, Stratford or Kingston where the car waits at the wineries, the lodge, the theatre or the meetings and brings you home is an hourly booking - the drive there, the day, the drive back, one block. Choose By the hour.

A return within a day but a long wait: ask. A Toronto-to-Kitchener meeting that lasts four hours can be cheaper as two flat fares or as a seven-hour block depending on the day; the engine prices both and the desk will say which. As a rule the crossover is around three hours of waiting: under that, hourly; over that, two transfers.

Overnight: hourly with an overnight, or two flat fares. A Toronto-to-Ottawa trip with a night in Ottawa can be two flat fares (the car goes home and another comes back), or an hourly booking with the chauffeur staying over at a per-diem set out on the confirmation. For Montreal, Ottawa and Detroit the two-fare version is usually cheaper; for a client who wants the same chauffeur and the car at the hotel door the next morning, the overnight is the better service. The multi-day page covers the version where the trip is a week.

The drive versus the flight

Toronto to Montreal is five and a half hours by car and an hour and a quarter in the air - but the flight is two hours at Pearson or an hour at Billy Bishop before departure, forty minutes at the far end, and a car at each end, and a delayed flight is a lost meeting. For one traveller the flight usually wins. For two or three with luggage, a working day in the back of an S-Class from Yorkville to Old Montreal door to door is competitive on time and better on everything else; for a family or a team of six in a Sprinter it is cheaper as well. Ottawa is four and a half hours by car against an hour's flight plus the airports; the drive wins more often than people expect. Kingston, London, Kitchener and Windsor have no useful flight from Toronto; the drive is the only chauffeured option. The Montreal and Ottawa pages do the comparison with times.

The roads

The 401 is the spine: east to Kingston, Ottawa (via the 416) and Montreal; west to Kitchener, London and Windsor. The QEW runs to Niagara and the Peace Bridge. The 400 goes north to Barrie and, via the 11 and the 60, to Muskoka and Algonquin. The 403 links Hamilton and Brantford to the 401. The 407 across the top of the city is a toll road and is used only if you choose it, which for a Vaughan-to-Kingston or Markham-to-Windsor drive is often worth the money. Ontario 511 is what the dispatcher watches for closures and weather; in winter the 401 east of Cobourg and the 402 to Sarnia are the stretches that close, and the Ministry of Transportation's winter advisories decide whether a drive leaves early or waits a day. Chauffeurs on long drives are planned to Ontario's hours-of-service rules; a Toronto-Montreal-Toronto same-day run is not one chauffeur's day and is not booked as one.

The car for a long drive

The Mercedes S-Class for one to three passengers who will work: reclining rear seats, the quietest cabin, five hours that feel like two. The Executive Sedan for the same drive at the lower rate. The Luxury SUV for a family, for luggage, for winter - the 401 in January is an SUV road - and for a golf or ski trip. The Executive Sprinter for a team of seven to twelve, which on a Toronto-to-Ottawa or Toronto-to-Kingston run is cheaper per seat than the train and door-to-door. The fleet page has the detail. Every vehicle has winter tyres from November; every long drive has bottled water, chargers and a chauffeur who knows where the good coffee is in Cobourg, Brockville and Woodstock.

Stops on the way

A flat fare includes one brief stop for coffee or a comfort break on a drive over two hours; additional stops are priced at booking. An hourly booking includes any stops - the antique shop in Port Hope, lunch in Kingston on the way to Montreal, the outlet in Cornwall - because the clock is the price. Tell the desk what you want and it says which product fits.

Cross-border legs

Buffalo and the Peace Bridge, Detroit and the Ambassador Bridge or the tunnel from Windsor, and onward to Rochester, Cleveland, Chicago and New York are on the cross-border page, with the documents, the customs process and the chauffeurs who know the crossing.

Corporate city-to-city

A company's Montreal and Ottawa offices, a plant in Windsor, a supplier in Kitchener, a client in Kingston: the city-to-city drive is a line on the corporate account with the fare on file, invoiced monthly by traveller and cost centre. For a team moving between offices, the Sprinter on account replaces six train tickets and two taxis at each end. The roadshow page covers the Toronto-to-Montreal overnight in a deal week.

At the far end

In Montreal, Ottawa and the other cities on the Canada pages, a local chauffeur of the same standard is available on the same account through the network - so a Toronto chauffeur drives you to Montreal, and a Montreal chauffeur takes the hourly day there, and the invoice is one. The Canada hub explains how the standard travels and the Montreal and Ottawa city pages have the local detail.

Drive times from downtown Toronto

Booking a city-to-city drive

For a one-way, choose Route, the class, the addresses at both ends, the date and time, and confirm the fare; add a flight number if either end is an airport. For a same-day return with stops, choose By the hour and the block - the day-trip pages suggest one for each destination. For an overnight or a multi-day, call the desk and the confirmation sets out the chauffeur's per-diem and the hotel arrangement. Book long drives at least a day ahead; winter drives with a weather eye and the desk's honest advice about the 401.

The Pearson-to-anywhere transfer

Visitors landing at Pearson bound for Niagara-on-the-Lake, Blue Mountain, Muskoka, Kitchener, London or Kingston book the drive as a one-way flat fare with the flight tracked and forty-five minutes of waiting on an international arrival; the chauffeur meets the flight and drives straight out of the city. It is the most common city-to-city booking after Montreal, and the Pearson page has the arrival detail while the destination's day-trip page has the far end.

Luggage on a long drive

A sedan takes two large cases and two carry-ons; three passengers to Montreal for a week is an SUV. A Sprinter's bay takes eight large cases. Say what is travelling at booking and the right class is sent; nothing rides on a seat.

From our network: LAI - Ottawa (YOW) operators · LWD article - cross-border handoffs · HotelsWorldwide.Directory - Ontario · VacationsWorldwide.Directory - Canada · BookingWorldwide.net - Toronto hotels, flights and activities.

Official sources for planning: Ontario 511 - road conditions · Destination Toronto.