GTHL Tournament Team Transportation Toronto
Tournament weekends put a roster on the road early, twice a day, sometimes at more than one rink. We move the whole group in one vehicle with the gear underneath: players, coaching staff, parents, bags and sticks. Hold the chauffeur by the hour from approximately $175, or put a full roster on a 27-Passenger Mini Bus from approximately $250 an hour.
GTHL tournament transportation rates
Booking by the hour means the vehicle waits through the round robin, runs the team between venues if the draw sends you to two, and holds the equipment the entire time. The minimum spend column is a dollar floor on the booking, not a number of hours.
Up to 27 passengers
27-Passenger Mini Bus
What most rosters book. Eighteen players, the coaching staff and a handful of parents, with luggage space underneath for a full set of bags and sticks.
Up to 56 passengers
56-Passenger Coach
A club sending two teams to the same draw, or one team travelling with its families. The deep bays take everything without anyone holding gear.
7 to 14 passengers
Regular Sprinter
Fourteen seats for a half roster, a call-up group or coaching staff moving separately from the team. Bag volume caps this one before the seats do.
Up to 14 passengers
Executive Sprinter
Fourteen seats with a better cabin, for a roster that spends real time in the vehicle between two rinks on the same day.
Up to 35 passengers
35-Seat Limousine Bus
Thirty-five seats when the family contingent travels with the team across a weekend of several games.
Hourly prices are approximate and include the chauffeur, fuel and insurance for the hours you book. Additional hours are billed at the same hourly rate. HST at 13% and gratuity of 15 to 20% are added on top. Child seats are $25 each and an additional stop is from $30.
Team charter rates by the hour
Every vehicle we run for teams, in one table. The Cadillac Escalade and Jet Sprinter sit at the bottom because they carry a coaching group or a scout travelling apart from the bus, not a roster and its equipment.
Additional hours are billed at the same hourly rate. A tiebreaker, a shootout or a slipped resurface does not need a new booking. Extra time is agreed with your chauffeur before it starts.
One trip out and back, priced by the trip
That fits a single game with a known finish. It does not fit a tournament, because the moment you want the vehicle to sit between games you are buying hours.
Transfer prices are approximate, one price per leg within the GTA, set by distance, with no minimum. They include the chauffeur, fuel and insurance. HST at 13% and gratuity of 15 to 20% are added on top.
What is the GTHL and where do its teams play
The regular season opens in October, breaks over the holidays and picks up again in January. Around 80 percent of league game ice falls on a weekend. That last number is the one that shapes a manager’s year. Weekend ice is finite and heavily booked, so a team takes the slot it is given, which regularly means a first game before most people are awake.
The geography is the other half of the problem. A league that spans Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, Vaughan, Brampton, Oakville, Richmond Hill and Ajax-Pickering sends teams across the whole region for a single weekend. A Saturday can start in one corner of the GTA and finish in another, and every extra crossing is another chance for somebody’s car to arrive twenty minutes after the warm-up started.
Extra practice ice is commonly found at Chesswood Arenas, Westwood Arenas and Canlan Ice Sports York. A team that ends up spread across several buildings in a season is exactly the team that stops trying to coordinate a convoy.
GTHL cup tournaments and where they are played
The A Challenge Cup is an annual non-contact tournament run by the league and played at Scotiabank Pond in November. It has been drawn at 40 teams across five divisions, Under-14 through Under-18, with eight teams in each. Each division splits into two groups of four for a round robin, then goes to single elimination from the quarterfinals. Every team is guaranteed at least four games. A guaranteed four games is a guaranteed multi-day commitment, which is why teams in that draw book a vehicle rather than a convoy. Full detail sits on the A Challenge Cup at U14 through U18 page.
The Platinum Cup is one of the league’s early-season tournaments, played at Scotiabank Pond in November. Long an Under-11 event, it has widened to carry Under-10 as well, and has been drawn at 48 teams across six divisions: U10 and U11 at A, AA and AAA, eight teams each. That is double its former 24-team field. Entry is open to Hockey Canada sanctioned, OHF and USA Hockey teams at those age levels. The youngest age groups travel with the most adults per player, which changes the vehicle you want. That is covered on the U10 and U11 Platinum Cup page.
For the venue itself, its four pads, its drop-off and what a day inside the building looks like, read the arena at 57 Carl Hall Road.
Hockey equipment and bag space on a team bus
This is the calculation managers get wrong, and it is worth doing before you book anything. A player bag is about the size of a large suitcase on its side. Multiply by eighteen. Add goalie kit, which runs to roughly double a skater’s volume. Add stick bags close to two metres long that do not bend around a wheel arch.
Seats are the easy part. A fourteen-seat passenger vehicle seats fourteen players and then has nowhere to put fourteen bags except on the passengers. What a team actually needs is hold space underneath: the 27-Passenger Mini Bus and the 56-Passenger Coach both have it, gear goes in at the start of the day and stays locked while everyone is inside the rink.
Send the bag count with the quote request, and say if you carry two goalies. We would rather size the vehicle correctly than have the conversation at the kerb on a Saturday morning.
Multi-rink tournament weekends across the GTA
A draw that spans the region can put a team at one rink in the morning and another in the afternoon, an hour apart in traffic. Handled with private cars, that gap is where a weekend falls apart: the group scatters, two families go home, somebody gets the wrong address, and the second game starts short.
Handled with one vehicle, the gap becomes a meal and a nap. The gear never comes out of the hold, the coaching staff know where every player is, and the team arrives at the second building together and warm.
Pickup points, the roster and staff count, the bag count, the venues in order. You get the chauffeur’s name and number in advance.
The vehicle unloads at the point agreed beforehand and then goes and parks. Nobody circles a full lot carrying a bag.
The team travels together to the second rink. Nothing is left behind and nobody gets lost between buildings.
The group leaves as a unit instead of trickling out over forty minutes.
Early morning ice times and winter driving
The season runs through the coldest months, and the ice a team is given is the ice it takes. A first-round game can put a roster on the road well before sunrise with snow on the ground, which is the drive nobody volunteers for and the one most often done by a parent on very little sleep.
A commercially operated vehicle is a different proposition. The chauffeur is licensed and insured to carry passengers for hire, the vehicle is maintained and inspected on a commercial schedule, and it is cleared and warm before the team boards. When the passengers are other people’s children, that difference is the whole argument.
What a tournament team bus costs per family
Set that against eight or nine cars making the same trip twice in a weekend, with fuel and parking on each. We will not put numbers on your families’ cars, but the comparison is closer than most parents assume before they run it.
And the thing that never appears in a column: the parents watched the games. They were not parking, not driving home tired, and at the team dinner afterwards nobody had to be the designated driver.
Team pickups across the GTA and the Lake Ontario Region
It runs across the Greater Toronto Area and the Lake Ontario Region, taking in Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, Vaughan, Brampton, Oakville, Richmond Hill and Ajax-Pickering. We pick up across all of it, plus Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough. Several pickup points on one booking is the normal shape of a team run: send the addresses with the quote request and we build the route and the departure time around them rather than around a generic downtown start.
Out-of-town teams travelling in for a draw book the same way. One vehicle collects the group at the hotel, covers every game and every rink for the weekend, and returns it. One coordinator, one price, one vehicle. Every rate on this page is for travel within the GTA.
Outside the GTA a vehicle is booked as a full day rather than by the trip or by the hour. The 27-Passenger Mini Bus is from approximately $3,000 for the day and the 56-Passenger Coach is from approximately $3,600. Send the rink and the weekend and we quote the run.
Chauffeuropolis is an independent transportation company. We have no connection to the Greater Toronto Hockey League or to any club or tournament, and we do not act on their behalf. We move the team, nothing more.
GTHL tournament transportation: questions
How much does transportation for a GTHL tournament team cost?
By the hour, which is how a tournament team books: approximately $175 an hour on the Regular Sprinter from a $525 minimum spend, approximately $250 an hour on the 27-Passenger Mini Bus from $1,000, and approximately $300 an hour on the 56-Passenger Coach from $1,800. HST at 13% and gratuity of 15 to 20% are added on top.
Why book by the hour instead of a return trip for a tournament?
Because the vehicle has to wait. A tournament day has gaps between games, and often a second rink. By the hour the chauffeur stays with the team through all of it. A by-the-trip price only buys the two journeys and nothing in between.
Can one vehicle cover two arenas in the same day?
Yes, and that is the main reason tournament teams book by the hour. The run between venues is part of the same booking, not a separate journey, because the vehicle never left you.
Will eighteen hockey bags fit on the bus?
On the 27-Passenger Mini Bus and the 56-Passenger Coach, yes, in hold space underneath. A full-size player bag is roughly 35 by 18 by 18 inches and a stick bag is close to two metres long. Send the bag count with your quote request and we size the vehicle to it.
What size vehicle does a full roster need?
The 27-Passenger Mini Bus at approximately $250 an hour covers eighteen players, the coaching staff and their equipment. A fourteen-seat Sprinter seats a half roster but runs out of bag space well before it runs out of seats.
Can parents travel with the team?
Yes, and it is the usual reason a team moves up from a Sprinter to the 27-Passenger Mini Bus or the 56-Passenger Coach. Give us the total headcount including adults.
What is the GTHL?
The Greater Toronto Hockey League, the largest minor hockey league in the world. It most recently counted 496 teams across 50 clubs and associations, with somewhere between 40,000 and 45,000 players a year.
Where does the GTHL play?
Across the Greater Toronto Area and the Lake Ontario Region, taking in Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, Vaughan, Brampton, Oakville, Richmond Hill and Ajax-Pickering. We pick up from all of it.
When does the season run?
The regular season opens in October, breaks over the holidays and picks up again in January. Around 80 percent of league game ice falls on a weekend, which is why early weekend starts are so common.
Which tournaments does this cover?
Every cup weekend a team travels for. The two early ones we get asked about most are the A Challenge Cup, a non-contact event for Under-14 through Under-18, and the Platinum Cup for Under-10 and Under-11, both played at Scotiabank Pond in November.
How early should we book a tournament weekend?
Eight weeks or more. Every team in a forty or forty-eight team draw wants a group vehicle on the same two or three days, and mini buses and coaches are the first thing to go.
What happens if a game runs long or goes to a tiebreaker?
Additional hours are billed at the same hourly rate, agreed with your chauffeur before the extra time starts rather than added afterwards. A shootout does not strand the team.
Does the driver wait between games?
On an hourly booking, yes. The vehicle stays with you, the equipment stays in the hold, and the team has one place to meet during a five hour gap instead of scattering.
Is a team bus cheaper than families driving separately?
Split across the roster it is smaller than most expect. Six hours on the 27-Passenger Mini Bus is about $1,500, roughly $83 for each of eighteen families before tax and gratuity. Six hours on the 56-Passenger Coach is about $1,800, or $60 across thirty families. What each family spends on fuel and parking is theirs to work out; we will not invent it.
Is the driver licensed and insured to carry children?
Yes. Commercially operated vehicles with a licensed, insured chauffeur, maintained and inspected on a commercial schedule. That is a different standard from a parent volunteering a personal car, which matters when the passengers are other people’s children.
Can you do a six in the morning departure in the middle of winter?
It is a normal booking. The vehicle is cleared of snow and warmed before the team gets in, and the chauffeur is working rather than driving on a short night’s sleep.
We have two goalies. Does that change the vehicle?
It can. Goal pads, a chest protector, a blocker and a trapper run to roughly double a skater’s volume. Tell us at the quote stage and we size for it.
Can we be picked up from several addresses?
Yes, and most teams are. Send the full list with the quote request and we build the route and the departure time around it. An additional stop is from $30.
Do you carry teams travelling in from out of town?
Yes. One vehicle collects the group at the hotel, covers every game and every rink across the weekend, and returns it. One coordinator and one price. The rates on this page cover travel within the GTA, and a run that leaves the GTA is booked as a full day instead.
Can the club or association be invoiced?
Yes. Club and association bookings are routinely invoiced, which beats one parent carrying the cost and chasing everyone else afterwards.
What does a straight return trip cost instead?
A return is two legs. The published Regular Sprinter return is from approximately $1,000 within the GTA, which is two $500 legs held together. Across fourteen families that is about $71 each before tax and gratuity.
Do you provide child seats?
Yes, $25 each, fitted in advance with ages given at booking.
What is included in the price?
The chauffeur, the vehicle, fuel and insurance. Figures are approximate. HST at 13% and gratuity of 15 to 20% are added on top and shown on the quote before you approve it.
Are you connected to the league?
No. Chauffeuropolis is an independent transportation company. We have no connection to the Greater Toronto Hockey League or to any club or tournament, and we do not act on their behalf. We are simply the vehicle.
How do we get a quote?
Send the venues and dates, the pickup addresses, the number of players and staff, the bag count, and the hours you need the vehicle held. We reply with one fixed price, usually within the hour.
Get a fixed quote for the tournament weekend
Send the venues, the pickup addresses, the number of players and staff, the bag count and the hours you need the vehicle held. We reply with one fixed price covering the chauffeur, fuel and insurance. Figures are approximate. HST at 13% and gratuity of 15 to 20% are added on top.