Graduation transport, in one paragraph
Graduation and convocation transport in Toronto is a family's day: the out-of-town relatives met at Pearson the day before (the meet and greet), the morning's run to the ceremony — U of T's Convocation Hall on King's College Circle (closed to traffic on convocation days; the drop is Hoskin Avenue or St. George Street — the U of T guide), York University's Keele campus (the Aviva Centre's or the Convocation Pavilion's lot), TMU's Mattamy Athletic Centre (Carlton Street — the old Maple Leaf Gardens), OCAD, Humber, Seneca, George Brown, and McMaster and Waterloo an hour away (the long-distance article's arithmetic) — the photographs on the lawn with the car waiting, the dinner after at a fine dining room or the family's hall, the graduate's own stretch with the friends that evening (the stretch limo page), and the after-party's safe ride. The vehicle is an SUV for a family of six, a Sprinter for the extended family, or a stretch for the graduate's night; the June season's Friday afternoons book three weeks ahead.
Convocation is one of the few days a Toronto family books a car for a reason other than an airport, and the reason is the same one that makes a wedding a car's day: the grandparents cannot walk from a parking garage on Spadina to Convocation Hall, the gown and the hood and the mortarboard do not survive a subway, the family of eight has three cars and no parking, and the ceremony starts at a fixed minute with the doors closing after it. This guide covers the university convocation days and their campus rules, the high school commencements, the family's day from the airport to the dinner, the vehicles by the family's size, the June season's closures, the graduate's own evening, the out-of-town family, the dinner reservations, the after-party, the winter convocations, and a worked convocation day.
The university convocation days
University of Toronto — Convocation Hall on King's College Circle, June (two weeks of ceremonies, morning and afternoon, two to three a day) and November; the Circle is closed to vehicles on ceremony days and the drop is the Hoskin Avenue lay-by at Hart House or the St. George Street curb at the Sidney Smith Hall, with a five-minute walk across the lawn; the U of T guide covers the campus's doors and the Mississauga (UTM) and Scarborough (UTSC) campuses hold their own ceremonies at their own halls (the Mississauga page, the Scarborough guide). York University — the Keele campus's Convocation Pavilion tent in June, the Aviva Centre in some years, the Glendon campus's own; the lots are large and the drop is at the pavilion. Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) — the Mattamy Athletic Centre on Carlton at Church (the old Gardens), the Carlton curb or the Church Street side; the Yonge–Dundas traffic in June. OCAD University — at a downtown hall (the Meridian Hall, the Sony Centre's successor, in recent years). Humber, Seneca, George Brown, Centennial — their own campuses' halls and, for the larger ones, the Toronto Congress Centre on Dixon Road. McMaster (Hamilton) and Waterloo and Laurier (Waterloo) and Guelph and Queen's (Kingston, three hours) — the long-distance article's day trip with the family aboard and the chauffeur waiting through the ceremony (the Hamilton page, the Waterloo airport page's region).
The high school commencements
The city's and the 905's high schools hold their commencements in late June (the ceremony) and, at some, in the fall (the diploma ceremony after the summer's marks) — at the school's gym, a banquet hall, or a downtown hall — and the family's car is the same as the university's: the grandparents, the graduate and the parents in an SUV, the photographs at the door, and the dinner after. The prom limo article covers the same graduates' other June evening and the same parents' rules.
The family's day
The day before: the relatives' arrivals at Pearson — the grandparents from Vancouver, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai or Florida (the international arrivals article), met with the family's name on the board, to the family's home or a hotel (the airport strip guide for a quick night, the Financial District hotels guide for a downtown stay near the campus). The morning: the family to the ceremony's drop ninety minutes before (the doors open an hour before, the seats are unreserved, the front rows go early), the graduate separately to the gowning room (a second car, or the same car's first run), and the chauffeur waiting through the two-hour ceremony. After: the photographs on the lawn — the wedding day timeline article's discipline for a graduation's forty-five minutes — the car at the lay-by, the lunch or the dinner, and the graduate's evening. The multi-day hire article's terms cover a family that books the car for three days around the ceremony.
The vehicle by the family's size
Four (the parents, a sibling, the graduate): an SUV — the room for the gown. Six (with the grandparents): an SUV with a third row or a small Sprinter. Eight to fourteen (the extended family): a Sprinter — one vehicle, one drop, no one lost on the campus. The graduate's friends (eight to fourteen): a stretch or a stretch SUV for the evening. The fleet page shows them, the luggage capacity article covers the grandparents' bags on the airport run, and the accessible service article covers a grandparent who uses a walker or a chair (the campus's accessible entrance and the drop closest to it are on the chauffeur's sheet).
The June season's closures
The first two weeks of June are U of T's, and King's College Circle, Hart House Circle and the lanes off them are closed to vehicles — the drop is Hoskin Avenue (the Hart House lay-by, five minutes' walk) or St. George Street north of College (the curb at the Sidney Smith Hall or the Bahen Centre); the rush hour article's morning peak is over by a 10 a.m. ceremony but the afternoon's 2:30 ceremony is on the road at 1:15 with the King Street corridor's no-stopping rule on the way; York's Keele campus is a 401-and-Keele run with the 407 for a family from Markham; the Mattamy's Carlton curb is a two-minute stop and the Yorkville guide's side streets the wait. A convocation on a Blue Jays afternoon or a TFC evening (the Rogers Centre guide, the BMO Field guide) adds the Gardiner's crowd to the route home.
The graduate's own evening
The graduate's night is the prom article's for a high school graduate (the rules, the parent who books) and the stag and bachelorette article's for a university graduate (the of-age group, the King West dinner, the Entertainment District guide's clubs, the 2 a.m. pickup) — a stretch or a Sprinter with the friends, the champagne in a licensed stretch for the of-age, the drop sequence home, and the women travelling alone article's safe ride for every member. A parent who books the family's day and the graduate's night books two vehicles on one manifest and one card.
The out-of-town family
The grandparents from abroad are the families with luggage article's passengers — the bags, the gifts, the walker — met at the Terminal 1 or Terminal 3 Door A with the flight delays article's delay handled; the family from Montreal or Ottawa on the train is the Union Station guide's York Street pickup; the family from Buffalo or Detroit by road is the Buffalo airport page's or a border crossing the Niagara day trip article describes; and the departures, three days later, are the how early to book article's morning.
The dinner reservations
A convocation lunch or dinner is the fine dining article's private rooms (booked the day the ceremony's date is announced — the June Saturdays go first), a Yorkville table five minutes from the campus, the Financial District hotels guide's restaurants, the Distillery's rooms for a family that wants the walk after, a Scarborough or Markham hall for a family of forty (the wedding venues article's banquet halls do graduations too), or the family's home with the hourly holding the car through the afternoon; the chauffeur drops at the room's corner and collects at the family's word.
The after-party's safe ride
The graduate's friends' party — a backyard, a condo's party room, a King West bar — ends with the prom article's drop sequence for the under-19s and the Nuit Blanche and late-night article's roster for the of-age; the parent who books it has the passenger safety article's standard and the text at the last door.
The winter convocations
U of T's November ceremonies, York's October, the colleges' fall diplomas — the same doors in the winter driving article's weather, the gown under a coat, the photographs indoors at Hart House's Great Hall or the campus's atrium, and the Christmas Market and holiday events article's December dinner if the family stays; the chauffeur's buffers are the winter's and the drop is the accessible entrance for the grandparents.
The booking windows
U of T's June dates are published in the spring and the Friday afternoons' cars book three weeks ahead; York's and TMU's the same; the colleges' Congress Centre days coincide with the trade show season (the trade show article) and the Dixon Road hotels fill; a family that books the relatives' airport runs, the ceremony's cars and the dinner's on one manifest in May has the fleet it wants, and the deposits and payment article covers the family's card and the executive assistants' guide's booker system the family's coordinator (usually the parent who is not crying).
A worked convocation day
A U of T graduate, a Thursday in June, the 2:30 ceremony at Convocation Hall. Wednesday 4 p.m.: the grandparents from Vancouver at Terminal 1 — meet and greet, an SUV with the walker, to the family's Leaside home. Thursday 12:30: the graduate to the Hoskin Avenue lay-by in the family's first run (the gowning at Hart House); 1:15: the family of six (the parents, two siblings, the grandparents) from Leaside in a Sprinter — Bayview, Bloor, Hoskin — to the Hart House lay-by at 1:40; the grandmother's walker and the five-minute walk across the lawn with the chauffeur's arm to the accessible entrance. 2:30–4:30: the ceremony; the Sprinter on Devonshire Place. 4:30–5:15: the photographs on the lawn, the Circle, the King's College Road steps. 5:15: the Sprinter from the Hoskin lay-by to a Yorkville private room (booked in March); 8:30: the family home. 9:00: the graduate's stretch — twelve friends, the King West dinner, the clubs, the 2 a.m. Peter Street pickup, the sequence home by 3. Sunday: the grandparents' Terminal 1 departure. One manifest, four vehicles, one family, no one parked on Spadina.
Graduation transport quick reference
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| U of T | Convocation Hall; the Circle closed; drop at Hoskin Ave (Hart House) or St. George St; 5-min walk; June and November |
| York | Keele campus Convocation Pavilion / Aviva Centre; large lots; the 401 and Keele |
| TMU | Mattamy Athletic Centre, Carlton at Church; 2-min curb stop |
| Colleges | Own campuses or the Toronto Congress Centre on Dixon Road |
| McMaster / Waterloo / Guelph / Queen's | A day trip with the chauffeur waiting |
| Vehicle | SUV (4); SUV 3-row or small Sprinter (6); Sprinter (8–14); stretch for the graduate's night |
| The day | Relatives' arrivals the day before; the family 90 min early; the graduate to the gowning separately; photographs 45 min; the dinner; the graduate's evening |
| Accessibility | The accessible entrance and the closest drop on the chauffeur's sheet; the walker in the trunk |
| Booking | Three weeks ahead for a June Friday afternoon; one manifest for the family's four runs |
Booking a convocation
The hourly chauffeur page books the family's day; the Pearson page the relatives' arrivals; the stretch limo page the graduate's night; the engine takes the campus and the ceremony's time in the notes and dispatch confirms the drop the day before. Book in May.
The photographs: where and how long
Every campus has its shot and its crowd: U of T's is the Convocation Hall steps, the King's College Circle lawn and the Soldiers' Tower archway (ten families deep at 4:30 — the family that walks fifty metres to the Philosopher's Walk gate or the Hart House quad has the shot to itself); York's is the Vari Hall rotunda and the Commons; TMU's is the Gould Street pedestrian zone and the Kerr Hall quad; the colleges' are their atriums. Forty-five minutes is the budget — the gown comes off after that and the grandparents are tired — and the chauffeur, who has watched a hundred of these, suggests the quiet corner and holds the mortarboard for the family shot. A family that wants the city in the frame books an extra hour on the hourly for the CN Tower loop article's Bremner lay-by or the Harbourfront guide's promenade on the way to dinner.
