A tenant shuttle program starts with two decisions, which transit connection it serves and when it runs. Vehicle size follows from those answers rather than leading them. Settle the first two and the rest of the planning, including what you put in front of tenants, gets much easier.
Toronto Bus Co. has been serving Toronto with charter buses for over 20 years. Our executive shuttle service is built for property managers and plant managers who want private GTA-wide transportation as a value-add on their building, and we create custom schedules and vehicle mixes. A first schedule can be deliberately small.
Which Transit Connection Should the Shuttle Serve?
Serve the connection your tenants already use. For most buildings that means a TTC or subway station, a GO station, or a carpool lot, and we run private transportation to and from all of them. The choice shapes everything downstream, because each one delivers riders differently.
A subway connection feeds people to you in a steady trickle, which suits a tight loop running continuously through the rush. A GO station delivers them in waves tied to train times, so the timing is easier to plan and less forgiving. A shuttle that misses a train’s arrival leaves people standing for the next one. A carpool lot works differently again, moving parking demand away from a building that doesn’t have room for it.
Your end of the route matters as much as the station. A coach needs a legal place to pull in with room to load, and the building’s loading area or a quieter side street usually settles it. That spot is worth walking at the hour the shuttle would actually use it, since a curb that looks clear mid- morning can behave very differently during the rush.
Should the Shuttle Run at Peak Only or All Day?
Peak-only is where most programs start, since morning arrivals and evening departures carry the bulk of the demand. Three schedules are worth pricing before you commit.
- Peak only. Two blocks of trips, morning and late afternoon. It’s the cheapest to run and it covers the part of the commute tenants actually judge a building on.
- Peak plus midday. Adds trips for lunch runs and client meetings, and for moving people to and from the office during the day or after hours, which we already do for buildings across the GTA.
- Extended hours. Worth looking at where tenants run shift work. Overnight travel is where a private shuttle changes a week most, and a direct link that removes one transfer can shave hours off a weekly commute.
The trade-off is predictability against cost. A schedule with fewer trips works fine as long as those trips are dependable enough that someone will plan a morning around them. Starting with a limited schedule and counting riders for the first few weeks also gives you firmer ground than a tenant survey when it comes time to adjust.
Sizing the Vehicle Against the Schedule You Picked
Choose the vehicle after the schedule, because capacity and frequency trade against each other. Our executive shuttle fleet covers a wide range.
- VIP coach, seating up to 28.
- Mid-size coach, seating 29 to 45.
- Highway coach, seating up to 56, with climate controls and TV monitors for longer runs.
- Mini coach, which suits short loops where the vehicle is back at the door every few minutes.
The bigger coach clears everyone in a single trip and then sits between runs. A smaller vehicle on a tighter loop means shorter waits, more trips per hour and a program that flexes as occupancy changes. Buildings with a heavy commuter population tend to want the frequency, while a single anchor tenant with a fixed start time usually does better with one larger vehicle.
What Toronto Bus Co. Handles When You Set One Up
We build plans around the size of your spaces and the tenants you want to attract. Pricing gets worked out with you so the offering makes sense on your side, and we give you information you can build straight into your proposal. You can also have the shuttles branded, including with your tenants’ logos, so the vehicle does some advertising on every run.
Our drivers are fully licensed, trained in hospitality and taught by us to prioritize safety. On the operating side, rides can be pre-booked, the shuttle can be tracked in real time, and the schedule can be changed as the building’s needs shift. If you already book us for events or airport runs, folding those into one arrangement usually improves the pricing.
Set Up a Tenant Shuttle Program for Your Toronto Building
Send us the building, your tenant mix and the station you’d like to connect to, and we’ll put together a schedule and vehicle plan you can price. Call 416-945-3436, or send the details through our online quote request. Our head office is at 110 Skyway Avenue in Toronto.
You end up with a posted schedule your tenants can plan their mornings around, and a branded shuttle at the door that shows up in your next leasing conversation.
