Vaughan to downtown Toronto

Vaughan to downtown Toronto: dinners, shows, games and Union Station

Downtown is the trip Vaughan books for pleasure. Dinner in Yorkville or on King West, a show at the Four Seasons Centre or Roy Thomson Hall, a Leafs or Raptors game at Scotiabank Arena, a Jays game at the Rogers Centre, TIFF in September, a night at the Royal York or the Four Seasons — each is a forty-minute drive each way with a parking problem, a drink and a post-event scramble at the far end. A black car removes all three. The chauffeur knows which venues have a pre-arranged pickup lane and which need a corner, and the hourly booking makes the return a text rather than a fixed time nobody wants to commit to at seven.

The drive

From Thornhill: Yonge Street south is the scenic route and slow at Lawrence and Eglinton; the 404 and the DVP to the Gardiner or Richmond Street is the fast one for the Financial District and the arena. From the VMC, Concord and Maple: the 400 south to the 401, then the Allen to Eglinton and Bathurst for Yorkville and the Annex, or the 401 to the 427 to the Gardiner for the waterfront, the arena and King West. From Woodbridge and Kleinburg: the 427 straight to the Gardiner. The chauffeur decides on the evening; the fare is the same.

The venues, and where the car meets you

Scotiabank Arena and Rogers Centre. The immediate blocks — Bremner, Bay at Lake Shore, the stadium's ring road — are closed or crawling after events. The chauffeur drops at the closest open kerb and agrees a meeting corner for the return: York and Bremner, or Front and Simcoe, or Lake Shore at Rees. For a party bus or Sprinter, the Bremner loading zones. Book the return for thirty minutes after the final whistle, not ten.

The theatres. The Four Seasons Centre, Roy Thomson Hall, the Princess of Wales, the Royal Alexandra, the Ed Mirvish and Massey Hall all have pre-arranged pickup lanes or a side street the chauffeur knows; the car is at the door when the curtain falls.

The hotels. The Fairmont Royal York, the Four Seasons in Yorkville, the Ritz-Carlton, the Shangri-La, the St. Regis and the Park Hyatt have porte-cochères; the chauffeur meets at the drive. For a night downtown, the travel desk books the room.

Union Station. For the VIA train to Ottawa, Montreal or Kingston — or the UP Express — the chauffeur drops at the Front Street drive or the York Street side, whichever is open, and for an arrival meets you at the Front Street doors.

Restaurants. King West's restaurant row has a chauffeur-friendly kerb on most blocks after eight; Yorkville's on Cumberland and Yorkville Avenue; the Financial District's at the tower drives. The chauffeur waits on an hourly booking and is at the door when you text.

Hourly or one-way

A single trip with a certain start and end — the house to the hotel — is a one-way fixed fare, and the return is a second one. An evening with a dinner, a show and an uncertain end is an hourly booking: the car waits, the return is a text, and the price for the evening is the hourly rate times the hours. For two couples going to dinner and a game, the Luxury SUV by the hour is almost always the cheaper and better answer. The engine shows both.

Events that change the map

TIFF in September closes King Street around the theatres for the festival's first weekend; the chauffeur uses Wellington and Richmond. The Marathon in October closes the Gardiner ramps and Lake Shore for a morning. Pride and Caribana close Yonge and Lake Shore respectively for their parades. The Grand Prix closes Lake Shore at Exhibition Place in June. Toronto FC and the CNE affect the Gardiner's western end in summer. The Santa Claus parade closes the University Avenue corridor in November. Chauffeurs plan around all of them; the fare is fixed regardless.

Corporate downtown

For the corporate account the downtown run is the board meeting, the closing, the investor presentation — a Premium Sedan from the VMC or Concord to the tower drive, an hourly wait, and the 407 home. Fares for VMC-to-Bay-Street are fixed at account set-up.

Which vehicle

An Executive or Premium Sedan for two; a Luxury SUV for four to six; a Sprinter for up to fourteen to a show; a stretch for the anniversary dinner where the arrival matters. All on the same engine.

Booking Vaughan to downtown

Addresses or venue names, the time, the class — or "hourly" with the start time and the hours. Accept the fixed fare or the hourly rate. For a game or a concert, add the event in the notes so the chauffeur plans the meeting corner.

An evening downtown, as it runs

Two couples from Maple book a Luxury SUV by the hour from 17:30. The chauffeur is at the first house at 17:25, collects the second couple on a crescent off Major Mackenzie at 17:40, takes the 400 south to the 401 and the Allen because the DVP is stopped at Bloor, and drops at a restaurant on Cumberland at 18:30. The chauffeur waits on Cumberland's chauffeur kerb, moves to the Four Seasons Centre's lane on Queen at 19:45 for the 20:00 curtain, holds, and is at the door at 22:35 when the text comes. Home to Maple by 23:20 up the DVP and the 404 to Highway 7, six hours at the hourly rate, no parking, no app, and the second couple dropped first because they said so at seven.

The arena and the stadium, in detail

Scotiabank Arena sits at Bay and Lake Shore under the Gardiner, the Rogers Centre a few blocks west at Bremner and Blue Jays Way, and both empty tens of thousands of people onto streets the police close for the purpose. The chauffeur drops before the event at the nearest open kerb — Bay north of Lake Shore for the arena, Bremner or Front for the stadium — and agrees the return meeting point: York and Bremner, Front and Simcoe, or Lake Shore at Rees for the arena; Front at Spadina or Bremner at Rees for the stadium. The passenger walks three minutes; the chauffeur avoids an hour in a closed grid. The return is booked for thirty minutes after the expected end and the chauffeur tracks the game's actual finish. For a Sprinter or a party bus, the Bremner Boulevard loading zones are the drop and the pickup.

The theatres, the hotels and the halls

Roy Thomson Hall and the Princess of Wales on King and Simcoe, the Royal Alexandra and the Ed Mirvish on King, the Four Seasons Centre on Queen at University, Massey Hall on Shuter, the Elgin and Winter Garden on Yonge, the CAA Ed Mirvish and the Sony Centre on Front — each has a pre-arranged pickup lane, a side street or a hotel drive the chauffeur uses, and the car is at the door when the house lights come up. The Fairmont Royal York on Front, the Four Seasons on Yorkville Avenue, the Ritz-Carlton on Wellington, the Shangri-La on University, the St. Regis on Bay and the Park Hyatt on Avenue Road have porte-cochères; the chauffeur meets at the drive. Convention bookings at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Front and the Enercare Centre at Exhibition Place have their own drop-offs and are corporate-account territory.

Union Station and the trains

VIA Rail to Ottawa, Montreal, Kingston, Windsor and London and the UP Express to Pearson leave from Union on Front Street, and the chauffeur drops at the Front Street drive or the York Street side depending on the day's construction and closures. For an arrival, the chauffeur waits at the Front Street doors with the vehicle description texted, and the walk from the platforms is the passenger's; the free waiting period for a train is the same as for a flight. A Vaughan resident taking VIA to Montreal for a day is a common Monday booking; the September university drop-off to Kingston by train is another, though most families drive it in an SUV.

Corporate downtown, in detail

The VMC and Concord accounts book the Bay Street run for closings, board meetings and investor presentations: a Premium Sedan to the tower drive, an hourly hold if the return is uncertain, the 407 home. Fares for VMC-to-Bay-Street are fixed at set-up. Visiting executives staying downtown are collected from their hotel's drive and taken to the Vaughan office; the reverse for Vaughan executives staying downtown for a conference. The account's coordinator handles a delegation moving between the Metro Convention Centre, a Yorkville dinner and the Highway 7 hotels with a Sprinter and a schedule.

The waterfront and the west end

Harbourfront, the Music Garden, the ferry to the islands from the Jack Layton terminal at the foot of Bay, the CN Tower and Ripley's Aquarium at the base of it, the Rogers Centre next door, Exhibition Place and Ontario Place to the west, Liberty Village and King West's restaurants, the Art Gallery of Ontario on Dundas and the ROM on Bloor: a visitor's downtown day from a Vaughan hotel is an hourly booking that strings four of them with the chauffeur waiting at each, and a resident's is a fixed fare to one. The chauffeur knows the aquarium's drop-off on Bremner, the AGO's lane on Dundas and the ferry terminal's kerb on Queens Quay.

The subway alternative, honestly

A Vaughan resident without luggage going downtown on a weekday can take the subway from the VMC to Union in 45 minutes for the price of a fare, and a chauffeur to the VMC station is a short fixed fare from Maple or Concord; the VMC and Highway 407 terminal guide covers it. The chauffeured car wins for the evening, the group, the luggage and the return after midnight.

Book Vaughan to downtown Toronto

The details

The Allen Road ends at Eglinton and the last two kilometres to Yorkville are on surface streets — allow for it. The DVP is stopped at Bloor most evenings until seven. The Gardiner's York/Bay/Yonge ramp is the one for the arena and the Royal York; the Spadina ramp for King West. After a Leafs game, the fastest way out of the arena district is west on Lake Shore to the Gardiner at Spadina, not the Bay Street ramp, and the chauffeur knows it.