Harbourfront by black car, in one paragraph
Harbourfront and Queens Quay — the waterfront from Bathurst Street east to Parliament, between the Gardiner Expressway and Lake Ontario — is served by a black car from the cross streets (Bathurst, Spadina, Rees, Lower Simcoe, York, Bay, Yonge, Jarvis, Sherbourne, Lower Sherbourne, Parliament) and the towers' and hotels' driveways, because Queens Quay itself is a streetcar right-of-way, a bike path and a promenade with one traffic lane each way and almost no stopping. The Harbourfront Centre's events use the Lower Simcoe and Rees curbs; the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal to the Islands has a Queens Quay lay-by at Bay that the Toronto Islands article covers; the Westin Harbour Castle has its Harbour Square driveway and the Radisson Blu its Queens Quay forecourt; the condominium towers have porte-cochères on the cross streets; the cruise terminal at Polson Street and the East Bayfront offices at Sugar Beach have their own approaches; and the summer festivals close Queens Quay's lane at the weekends. Billy Bishop sits at the west end, and the Billy Bishop guide covers its Eireann Quay pickup.
Toronto's waterfront was rebuilt over a decade into a promenade, a streetcar line, a bike path and a strip of parks and towers from Bathurst to Parliament, and the rebuild made it a place to be and a hard place to drive: Queens Quay has one lane each way, the streetcar in the middle, the bike path on the lake side, and stopping prohibited nearly everywhere; the Gardiner overhead has exits that land a car on Lake Shore rather than on the water; and on a summer weekend the whole city is on the promenade. A black car serves the waterfront from the cross streets and the driveways, and a chauffeur who knows which cross street serves which venue is the difference between a pickup and a loop. This guide covers the waterfront's geometry, the Gardiner's exits, the Harbourfront Centre, the ferry terminal, the hotels, the towers and offices, the cruise terminal, the East Bayfront, the summer closures, Billy Bishop at the west end, the waterfront's evenings, and a worked summer day.
The waterfront's geometry
Queens Quay runs from Bathurst to Parliament, with the streetcar in a centre right-of-way from Spadina to Bay (and the Union loop under Bay), the Martin Goodman Trail on the lake side, one traffic lane each way, and stopping prohibited except in a few marked lay-bys (the ferry terminal's at Bay, the Radisson's forecourt, the Harbourfront Centre's at Lower Simcoe). Lake Shore Boulevard runs parallel under the Gardiner, two blocks north, with full traffic and the cross streets connecting; the cross streets — Bathurst, Spadina, Rees, Lower Simcoe, York, Bay, Yonge, Freeland, Jarvis, Sherbourne, Lower Sherbourne, Parliament — are where a car stops. The Harbourfront neighbourhood page covers the neighbourhood.
The Gardiner's exits
From the west (Pearson, the 427, the QEW): the Gardiner's Spadina exit lands on Lake Shore at Spadina for the western waterfront; the York/Bay/Yonge exit for the central; the Jarvis exit for the eastern; the Lower Sherbourne exit for the East Bayfront. From the east (the DVP): the Gardiner's Lake Shore split lands on Lake Shore at Jarvis or Sherbourne. A chauffeur going to the Harbourfront Centre takes Spadina and goes south to Queens Quay then east; going to the Westin, York or Bay and south to Harbour Square; going to Sugar Beach, Lower Sherbourne. The rush hour article covers the Gardiner's windows and the Pearson to downtown hotels article the airport approach.
The Harbourfront Centre
The Harbourfront Centre — the theatre, the galleries, the Power Plant, the concert stage, the skating rink and the summer festivals between Lower Simcoe and Rees — is served from Lower Simcoe's curb south of Lake Shore (the Centre's east side and its main entrance), from Rees Street (the west side and the Power Plant), and from the marked lay-by on Queens Quay at the Centre's door when it is open; during a festival, Lower Simcoe and Rees are the only options and both fill, so the chauffeur meets the passenger at Lake Shore and Lower Simcoe. The event limo page covers the Centre's evenings and the Caribbean Carnival article the season's largest weekend.
The Jack Layton Ferry Terminal
The ferry terminal at 9 Queens Quay West (at Bay) sends the Islands' ferries every fifteen to thirty minutes in summer; its Queens Quay lay-by at Bay is short, the Bay Street curb north of Queens Quay is the fallback, and the summer weekend queue for the ferry stretches west along Queens Quay for a block. The Toronto Islands article covers the drop-off, the return pickup timed to the ferry's arrival, and the water taxis at the York and Spadina slips as the alternative.
The Westin Harbour Castle and the Radisson Blu
The Westin Harbour Castle (1 Harbour Square): the driveway is on Harbour Square, the private street south of Queens Quay at Bay, entered from Bay southbound; it holds six cars, the conference centre's entrance is on the same square, and the conference transportation article covers the Westin's conference days. The Radisson Blu (249 Queens Quay West): the forecourt on Queens Quay between Rees and Lower Simcoe, entered eastbound, one of the few places a car may stop on Queens Quay itself. The Toronto luxury hotels guide covers both hotels' manners.
The condominium towers and the offices
The waterfront's towers — from the Bathurst Quay and Spadina Quay buildings through the Harbourfront's Queens Quay West towers, the Pier 27 and Harbour Plaza towers at Yonge, the Aqualina and Aquavista buildings at Sherbourne — have porte-cochères on the cross streets or on their own lanes off Queens Quay, and a chauffeur who works the waterfront knows each; the offices — the Corus Quay building at Dockside Drive (its own lay-by), the Waterfront Innovation Centre at Queens Quay East, the Sugar Wharf towers, the RBC and Telus towers on Lake Shore at Bay and Yonge — are the tech companies article's and the executive car service article's territory, with lay-bys on Lower Sherbourne, Dockside and the towers' lanes.
The cruise terminal
The Port of Toronto's cruise ship terminal at 8 Unwin Avenue, off Cherry Street south of the Ship Channel, receives the Great Lakes cruise ships from May to October; its approach is Cherry Street south from Lake Shore, across the Cherry Street bridge, and the terminal's forecourt has room for cars and Sprinters; a passenger disembarking with luggage is met at the forecourt and driven to Pearson in 45 to 60 minutes or to a downtown hotel in 15. The Pearson page covers the airport run and the families with luggage article the bags.
The East Bayfront and Sugar Beach
East of Jarvis, Queens Quay East runs past Sugar Beach, the Corus building, Sherbourne Common and the new towers to Parliament; its curbs are less restricted than the western waterfront's, Dockside Drive has a lay-by at Corus, and Lower Sherbourne's curb serves the offices; the area's construction — the Villiers Island and Port Lands works to the east, the Ontario Line's East Harbour to the north — changes the roads yearly and the chauffeur knows the current map. The Harbourfront neighbourhood page covers the East Bayfront's neighbourhood.
The summer closures
Canada Day, the Redpath Waterfront Festival, the Harbourfront Centre's summer festivals, the Caribbean Carnival weekend, the Toronto Waterfront Marathon (October) and the occasional cycling event close Queens Quay's traffic lane between Spadina and Bay for a day or a weekend, and the cross streets south of Lake Shore with it; on those days the chauffeur meets the passenger on Lake Shore at the nearest cross street (Lake Shore and Spadina, Lake Shore and Bay) and the passenger walks two blocks. The long weekends article, the Caribbean Carnival article and the marathon road closures article cover the calendar, and the City's road-closure notices the day.
Billy Bishop at the west end
The waterfront's west end is Billy Bishop's mainland terminal at Eireann Quay, the tunnel and the ferry; the Billy Bishop guide covers the pickup at Eireann Quay and the Pearson vs Billy Bishop comparison why a waterfront passenger flying to Montreal or New York uses it — the Westin to Eireann Quay is eight minutes along Queens Quay and Lake Shore, and a waterfront resident's flight begins twenty minutes before departure.
The waterfront's evenings
Dinner at a waterfront restaurant (the Harbourfront's Amsterdam Brewhouse, the Pier 27 towers' restaurants, the Westin's rooms, the East Bayfront's new tables), a concert at the Harbourfront Centre's stage or at the Budweiser Stage across the harbour (the concert article), a sunset on the promenade, the Islands' fireworks — a waterfront evening is a cross-street pickup at 10 with the chauffeur waiting on Lower Simcoe or Bay, and the date night article covers the two-stop version with a King West bar after.
A worked summer day
A family visiting from Calgary, staying at the Westin, on an hourly SUV from 9: 9:00 Harbour Square; 9:15 the ferry terminal's Bay lay-by — the chauffeur waits on Bay while the family does Centre Island until 1; 1:15 collected at Bay on the ferry's arrival text; 1:30 the Harbourfront Centre's Lower Simcoe curb for the galleries and lunch at the Brewhouse; 3:30 Ripley's Aquarium via the south core loop, dropped on Bremner; 6:00 the Westin. Nine hours, one SUV, and a Queens Quay the family never had to drive.
Harbourfront quick reference
| Place | Pickup point |
|---|---|
| Queens Quay generally | Never on Queens Quay — the nearest cross street |
| Harbourfront Centre | Lower Simcoe curb (east side) or Rees (west side); Lake Shore & Lower Simcoe during festivals |
| Jack Layton Ferry Terminal | Queens Quay lay-by at Bay; Bay's curb north of Queens Quay as fallback |
| Westin Harbour Castle | Harbour Square driveway, from Bay southbound |
| Radisson Blu | Queens Quay forecourt, eastbound entry |
| Condominium towers | Cross-street porte-cochères |
| Corus / East Bayfront offices | Dockside Drive lay-by; Lower Sherbourne |
| Cruise terminal | Unwin Avenue forecourt via Cherry Street |
| Summer closures | Lake Shore at the nearest cross street |
| Billy Bishop | Eireann Quay |
Booking a waterfront car
The Harbourfront neighbourhood page books a transfer; the Toronto Islands article plans the ferry day; the Billy Bishop page books the west end's flights.
Bathurst Quay and the western waterfront
West of Spadina, the waterfront changes character: Bathurst Quay's towers and the Canada Malting silos, the Music Garden, the Billy Bishop terminal at Eireann Quay, Little Norway Park and, west again, the Fort York and CityPlace towers along Fleet and Lake Shore; the curbs here are ordinary — Queens Quay West's streetcar ends at Spadina and the road west of it allows stopping in more places — and a chauffeur meeting a passenger at a Bathurst Quay tower uses the tower's own lane. The Billy Bishop guide covers the airport that anchors the west end and the Liberty Village guide the neighbourhood north of Fort York.
The Redpath sugar refinery and the working port
Between Jarvis and Sherbourne, the Redpath refinery's ships still unload raw sugar at the Queens Quay East dock — the working port in the middle of the promenade — and the refinery's trucks use Queens Quay East and Lower Jarvis; a car heading to Sugar Beach or the Corus building shares the road with them at shift changes, and the chauffeur knows the hours. The port's other working pieces — the cruise terminal at Unwin, the Ports Toronto marine terminal, the Cherry Street channel — are reached via Cherry Street, and the Distillery District guide covers the approach from the north.
The lake effect
The waterfront's weather is its own: five degrees cooler than Bloor Street on a June afternoon, a wind off the lake that makes a February pickup at the ferry terminal an ordeal, fog that closes Billy Bishop while Pearson is clear, and the lake-effect snow that lands on the Gardiner's waterfront stretch before anywhere else. A chauffeur keeps the car warm at a Lower Simcoe pickup in winter and the winter driving article covers the season; the flight delays article covers the fog day when a Billy Bishop passenger is re-routed to Pearson and the chauffeur goes with them.
A residents' waterfront
The waterfront's towers hold tens of thousands of residents whose black car patterns are the airport run (Billy Bishop for the east-coast flights, Pearson for the rest), the standing order for the weekly commute to a Markham or Mississauga campus that the employee shuttle article discusses, and the evening out that ends at a cross-street porte-cochère; a resident's profile carries the tower's entrance and the concierge's instructions, and the chauffeur who serves the building learns which lane the concierge wants used.
