Some time ago I noticed these strangely colored bus-like vehicles on the streets of Toronto, and I was wondering what they were. I took a second look and saw “Toronto Hippo Tours”, and realized that these buses carry sightseeing passengers not only on the streets of Toronto, but also on the waters of Lake Ontario. Considering that this form of intermodal transportation is definitely unconventional, it recently occurred to me that I should do an interview with this company and ride in one of the vehicles myself.
They’re definitely fun-looking vehicles with a rounded nose, bright paint that says “Ride the Hippo,” and an entrance in the back where you board by going up a set of retractable metal ladders.
Today I met with Drew O’Gilvie, director of sales and marketing for Toronto Hippo Tours. Drew used to be Director of Sales for Delta Hotels and obviously has a lot of experience in marketing related to tourism.
1. Tell us, who came up with the idea of creating a company with a floating bus? How long has the company been in business?
Geoffrey Lind founded Toronto Hippo Tours 5 years ago because he wanted to bring the “duck concept”, Boston’s famous amphibious vehicle tours, to Toronto. Last year the company had 25,000 passengers and we expect to far exceed that number this year. More than calling ourselves a tourism company, we consider ourselves an “urban safari”, a true urban adventure.
2. How many hippos are there? What makes them special?
We currently have 2 vehicles in operation with a third recently completed and awaiting final licences, a complicated process involving federal and provincial authorities and security checks. The vehicles are designed and built in Canada, based on a school bus platform. Unlike other places, they are not recycled amphibious vehicles from World War II or the Korean War. They are carefully checked and oiled every morning. We affectionately call our 3 amphibious vehicles Harry, Happy and Henrietta, our latest addition.
3. Tell us about your route and your schedule. Are the tours narrated?
Hippo tours are 1.5 hours long and spend approximately 1 hour on land covering major Toronto sites, all professionally narrated by a tour guide who is also licensed in first aid. We run tours from early May to late October every hour from 11am to 6pm.
4. Please inform us about the prices. Is it possible to reserve the vehicles for a private outing?
Prices are very reasonable at C$35.00 per adult, or C$30.00 for seniors or students, and C$23.00 for children under 12 years old. Vehicles can also be rented and are frequently rented for special occasions by both business organizations and individuals for birthday parties. AC$500.00 per departure, with capacity for 40 passengers, this can be a very affordable special event.
5. Please comment on the special training your captains and tour guides receive.
Our guides are St. John’s Ambulance and CPR certified, and all are restricted engineers. They undergo strict tests with government authorities as marine captains and have to obtain licenses to become school bus drivers to operate the vessel on land.
After interviewing Drew, I had the opportunity to try the Hippo experience myself and climbed aboard, dropping right behind the Captain, who in this case was a sporty-looking lady named Catherine. We had another tour guide who competently and entertainingly mentioned the main sights along the way and told a few dry jokes in between. We were also accompanied by another guide named Dan. He is finishing his driver’s license and has already completed the maritime part of the license process.
The vehicle travels through the streets of Toronto at a very leisurely pace. Our route included important sites such as the Royal York Hotel, Union Station, Yonge Street with the Bay, Eaton Center, and Dundas Square. We then headed down Elm Street and down Bay Street past Old and New City Hall. I especially enjoyed the gargoyle story on Toronto’s old city hall, where a famous architect got revenge on Toronto city councilors who criticized him for cost overruns by depicting his likeness as ugly gargoyles. We then headed down University Avenue past Queens Park (the provincial government buildings) and onto the University of Toronto campus.
From there we meandered through the Garment District, admiring all of Toronto’s loft conversions and condo developments beyond the CNE grounds (the Canadian National Exhibition grounds) to a ramp near Ontario Place, where we were preparing for THE BIG SPLASH, the The entry of the hippopotamus in the water.
It sure was a strange feeling, being on a bus whose windshield suddenly completely submerged in water. But the vehicle righted itself fairly quickly and we began to inch our way toward the waters surrounding Ontario Place. The maximum speed of “Happy the Hippo” is about 5 knots, and the vehicle has a single engine that drives the bus transmission on land and the propeller in the water. At 20 tons, it is quite a heavy vehicle and a special ramp had to be built to give it access to Lake Ontario.
We took a little loop around the west end of the fairgrounds where we got a good look at Toronto’s only wind turbine (we’re finally taking baby steps towards greener energy production…) where we turned around and headed back towards Ontario instead .
As Dan drove through the water portion of the trip, Catherine, the other captain, and I stood in the back of the boat and had a great chat. Catherine is a former insurance sales expert, and after being fired from her, she started a whole new career: first as a Hippo Tour Guide, and also becoming a fully certified and licensed Hippo Captain. Catherine is also very knowledgeable about fixing the vehicle and she doesn’t mind getting her fingers dirty when she performs maintenance on the bus every day. In her free months, November through April, Catherine does some great things, like volunteering her services at an animal conservation area to protect sloths in Costa Rica or traveling a lot to Cuba. Catherine is actually a very nice and interesting person and I will be doing a follow-up interview with her in the near future.
Back on land, we pass through the Harbourfront and head towards the famous Royal York Hotel. Shortly thereafter we made a quick left turn and returned to the Hippo Tours parking spot at 151 Front Street, a little east of the CN Tower and the Rogers Center (formerly called the Skydome), Toronto’s multi-purpose arena with the retractable roof.
Catherine and I had a chance to catch up for about 10 minutes after the tour ended, and we talked briefly about taking a language study trip to Cuba, something Catherine was interested in. I shared information with her as I had the opportunity to study Spanish at the University of Havana earlier this year.
I find Catherine to be a bit of an adventurer and I’m looking forward to catching up with her to find out more about her new unconventional lifestyle from corporate salesperson to road/lake captain for 6 months of the year. year, and doing other cool stuff in the months in between…
Thanks again to Drew and the entire Toronto Hippo Tours team for spending their time with me and giving me the opportunity to explore Toronto by bus, by land and by water….
