Hourly or point-to-point? Choosing the right booking type in Toronto

Two shapes of booking

The two structures exist because two kinds of trip exist. A passenger going from Rosedale to Terminal 1 wants a number for the trip and does not care how long it takes; a passenger with a day of meetings in the Financial District wants a car outside each one and does not know how long any of them will last. Point-to-point prices the first — distance and class, one number — and hourly prices the second — time and class, a rate with a minimum. The passenger who books a point-to-point for a night of three stops pays three minimums and waits for three cars; the passenger who books hourly for a single airport run pays for two hours of a forty-minute trip. This article gives the break-even and works it through the trips Torontonians actually take, explains the minimums and why they exist, lists what each structure includes, and covers the hybrids that dispatch prices every day.

Point-to-point: what it is and what it includes

A fixed fare for a pickup and a destination, quoted before booking by the engine from the distance and the vehicle class, including the chauffeur, the vehicle, fuel, the waiting allowance (15 minutes at a city pickup; 30 or 60 after a domestic or international flight), child seats, the amenities and the route by whatever road is fastest; excluding the optional 407 toll, waiting beyond the allowance, meet and greet, an extra stop's fee and gratuity unless the account includes it. HST is added. The flat rate article explains it in detail. Its virtue is certainty: a ninety-minute Gardiner costs the same as a thirty-minute one. Its limit is the shape: one pickup, one destination, and a stop on the way as a stated fee.

Hourly: what it is and what it includes

A rate per hour for the vehicle class, from the pickup time to the final drop (the clock runs while the car waits and while it moves), with a minimum by class and by day, including the chauffeur, the vehicle, fuel, unlimited stops, all waiting and the amenities; excluding the 407 (a line item), gratuity unless the account includes it, and HST. The hourly chauffeur page has the structure. Its virtue is flexibility: the car is outside whenever you come out, the itinerary can change, and nobody re-quotes anything. Its limit is the minimum: a forty-minute trip costs two hours.

The minimums, and why

Two hours for a sedan or SUV on weekdays and weekend days; three on Friday and Saturday evenings (from about 5 p.m.), when the same vehicle and chauffeur could have been committed to a wedding or a night out and a two-hour booking would leave the evening unsellable; three hours for a Sprinter (a scarcer vehicle); four for a stretch limousine and five for a limo bus (occasion vehicles with long preparation). The minimum is the operator's protection against a booking that blocks a half-day for an hour's revenue, and the what drives the fare article explains the fixed-cost logic behind it.

The break-even, in principle

Compare the hourly minimum's cost to the sum of the point-to-point fares for the same legs. For a sedan, two hours of the hourly rate is roughly the cost of two and a half to three minimum fares or one and a half standard airport transfers — so a night of three downtown stops is at the break-even and a night of four is hourly; a single transfer is point-to-point by a wide margin; two legs with a two-hour dinner between them is hourly (the alternative is two fares plus a chauffeur who has gone to another booking). The rule of thumb in the answer box — one destination, the fare; three stops or a wait over forty minutes, the hourly — is what falls out of the arithmetic.

Worked: the airport transfer

Rosedale to Terminal 1, one passenger, 3 p.m. Point-to-point: the standard downtown airport fare. Hourly: two hours of the sedan rate for a forty-five-minute trip — more, for nothing. Point-to-point, every time, and the Pearson page has the procedure. The exception is the layover: a passenger with five hours between flights who wants lunch in the city is an hourly booking (two transfers with a chauffeur who waits is the same car anyway), and the connecting flights article works it.

Worked: the day of meetings

A visiting executive with meetings at 9 on Bay Street, 11 on King West, 1 in Yorkville and 3 back on Bay, then the airport at 5. Point-to-point: four minimum fares plus an airport transfer, four separate cars, four waits for a car that may be ten minutes away. Hourly: eight hours of the sedan rate, one chauffeur who knows the day, a car outside each building when the meeting ends, the bags in the trunk all day, and the airport at the end. Hourly, by a clear margin in cost and by a mile in convenience; the executive car service article and the visiting clients itinerary article describe the day.

Worked: the game with dinner

Leaside to a King West restaurant at 5:30, the Leafs at Scotiabank Arena at 7, home at 10:30. Point-to-point: three legs — the first a standard fare, the second a minimum, the third a standard — and the middle leg's car may be late because it is a Saturday at 7 and the fleet is busy. Hourly: five hours at the Saturday-evening three-hour minimum's rate, one chauffeur, the car on Bremner's named side street at the final buzzer. Hourly, narrowly on cost and clearly on the experience; the Scotiabank Arena guide and the Leafs game article cover the arena's pattern.

Worked: the wedding

A wedding day — the couple from home to the church, photographs at three locations, the reception, the last dance — is eight to ten hours and a dozen stops, and it is hourly without argument; the stretch limousine's four-hour minimum and the wedding limo guide's timeline make the structure obvious. The guest shuttle between a hotel and the venue is hourly too, and the wedding guest shuttles article covers the Sprinter's runs.

Worked: the wine tour and the day trip

Toronto to Niagara-on-the-Lake, four wineries, lunch, the Falls at dusk, home: nine hours and hourly with a distance component — the Niagara wine tour article covers it. A day trip with one destination and a long stay — Toronto to Muskoka for a weekend, the car returning empty — is point-to-point at the long-distance fixed fare; a day trip where the car waits and returns — Toronto to Stratford for a matinee and home — is either, and the Stratford Festival article works which. The Niagara Falls day trip article is the classic hourly-with-distance.

Worked: the shopping afternoon and the visitor's day

Yorkdale, then Yorkville, then the Eaton Centre, with bags accumulating in the trunk: hourly, three hours, and the Yorkdale and shopping article covers it. A visitor's first day — the CN Tower, the Distillery, Kensington, the ROM — is hourly, and the visitor guide suggests four to six hours. A single dinner out and home: two point-to-point minimums, or the two-hour hourly if the dinner is short — the engine prices both and the passenger chooses.

The hybrids dispatch prices every day

A transfer with a stop: Rosedale to Terminal 1 via a Bay Street office to drop documents — point-to-point with a stated stop fee. An hourly with a long leg: a day of Toronto meetings ending with a drive to Niagara — hourly for the city and a fixed long-distance fare for the leg, or hourly throughout with a distance component; dispatch quotes both. Two transfers with the same chauffeur: to the restaurant at 7 and home at 10, no waiting billed — two fares, and dispatch tries to assign the same chauffeur but cannot promise it; the hourly promises it. The half-day: a two-hour minimum used for a ninety-minute errand — the minimum applies, and it is often still cheaper than two minimum fares.

What the hourly clock counts

The clock starts at the scheduled pickup (or the actual, if later because of the passenger) and ends at the final drop; it counts waiting, driving and stops alike; it does not stop for the chauffeur's lunch (the chauffeur eats while you do); it is billed in 15-minute increments after the minimum; and it is on the receipt as hours and the rate. A booking that runs past its estimate is simply billed for the time; a booking that ends early is billed at the minimum or the actual, whichever is greater. The what is included article has the inclusions for both structures.

Hourly vs point-to-point quick reference

Booking either

The engine prices point-to-point from two addresses and hourly from a start time and duration, and shows both when a trip could be either; the hourly page has the minimums and the fares page the principle.

Corporate accounts and the default structure

A corporate account usually sets a default: point-to-point for airport transfers and single trips, hourly for visiting executives' days and client itineraries, and the executive assistants' guide shows how a booker chooses in one line; the corporate account billing article shows how each appears on the statement — a fare line for a transfer, hours and a rate for an hourly. Roadshows, board meetings and conference days are hourly by nature, and the roadshow article works the six-meeting day.

Booking notes for choosing the structure

Three small things. Count the stops honestly, including the ones you might make. Estimate the waits — a dinner is two hours, a meeting is one, a game is three. And if the answer is unclear, ask dispatch; the engine shows both structures for any trip and a dispatcher will say which is cheaper without being asked twice.

The half-hour rule for the return

A passenger who books a point-to-point to a restaurant and wants the same chauffeur back at 10 sometimes asks the chauffeur to wait; on a point-to-point that wait is the waiting rate beyond the 15-minute allowance, and for anything over about ninety minutes it exceeds the hourly's cost for the same evening. Dispatch will say so when the request comes in, and convert the booking to hourly on the spot if the passenger prefers; the clock then runs from the original pickup and nothing is lost.

Price your trip both ways