Toronto Hippo Tours : I Went On A Bus - Within The Water ....... Some time back I noticed these odd shaped colourful bus-type vehicles in the streets of toronto , and I was wondering the things they were. I caught a second glimpse and i saw "Toronto Hippo Tours", and I recognized that these buses carry sightseeing passengers not only on the streets associated with Toronto, but also in the waters of river Ontario. Considering that this form of intermodal transportation is definitely unconventional, it just recently came to me personally that I should do a job interview with this company as well as go on one of the automobiles myself. They are funny looking automobiles with a rounded snout, bright painting stating "Ride the Hippo", and an entry at the rear in places you board walking up a set of retractable steel stairs. Today we met with drew O'Gilvie who is the actual Director of sales and marketing for Toronto Hippo Tours. Drew was previously a Director associated with Sales for Delta Hotels and certainly has a lot of tourism-related marketing experience. 1. Please tell us that came up with the idea of creating a company with a coach that floats? just how long has the company been in business? Geoffrey Lind founded Toronto Hippo Tours 5 years back since he desired to bring the "duck concept", the well-known amphibian vehicle excursions in Boston, to Toronto. Last year the organization had 25,thousand passengers and we expect to far surpass which number this year. Instead of calling ourselves the sightseeing company, all of us consider ourselves a good "urban safari", a genuine urban adventure. 2. How many Hippos are there ? What makes them unique ? We currently have 2 vehicles in operation having a 3rd one that was just recently completed and is just waiting for last licenses, a complicated process that involves federal as well as provincial authorities as well as safety checks. The actual vehicles are Canadian-designed and built, based on a school-bus platform. Contrary to other places, they are not reused WWII or korean war amphibian automobiles. They are carefully safety-checked and greased each and every morning. We affectionately call our three amphibian vehicles Harry, Happy and Henrietta, our newest addition. 3. Please tell us about your path and your schedule. Would be the tours narrated? The Hippo tours tend to be 1.5 hours long and spend about 1 hour on land covering the main Toronto sites, just about all professionally narrated by a tour guide who's also licensed in first-aid. We run tours from the beginning associated with May to the finish of October each and every hour from 11 am to 6 pm. 4. Please tell us about the prices. Can you really book the automobiles for a private trip ? Prices are very reasonable at C$35.double zero per adult, or C$30.00 with regard to seniors or students , and C$23.double zero for children 12 years and under. The automobiles can also be chartered and therefore are frequently rented with regard to special occasions both by business organizations and private individuals with regard to birthday parties. At C$500.00 per trip , which holds 40 passengers, this can be an extremely affordable special event. 5. Please comment on the actual special training that the captains and tour guides receive.
Our guides are certified in St. John's Ambulance and CPR, and therefore are all restricted technical engineers. They undergo strict testing with government authorities as marine boat captains and they have to obtain permit to become school-bus drivers for operating the actual vessel on property. After interviewing drew , I had a chance to actually sample the Hippo experience myself and i got on board, throwing myself down right at the rear of the Captain, that in this case was a sporty-looking lady by the name of Catherine. We had another tour guide who effectively and entertainingly mentioned the major sights on the way and cracked a few dry jokes between. Another guide by the name of Dan also accompanied us. He is simply finishing up his street licensing and has already completed the sea portion of the licensing process. The vehicle passes through the roads of Toronto at a very leisurely speed. Our route included major sites like the Royal York resort , Union Station, Yonge Street with the these types of , the Eaton center and Dundas square. We then headed more than on Elm street and down on these types of Street past old and New city Hall. I particularly enjoyed the gargoyle story about old Toronto City hall , where a famous builder took revenge on Toronto city counsellors who criticized him for his cost overruns by depicting their likenesses because ugly gargoyles. Then we headed up university Avenue past queens Park (the provincial government buildings) and on to the University associated with Toronto campus. From there we snaked our way down through the Garment area , admiring all of Toronto's loft conversions as well as condo developments past the CNE grounds (the actual Canadian National exhibit grounds) to a ramp near Ontario place , where we were preparing for THE BIG dash - the Hippo's entry into the water. It sure was a weird feeling, standing on a bus in whose windshield is all of a sudden fully submerged by water. But the vehicle straightened by itself out pretty quickly and we started chugging slowly into the seas surrounding Ontario place. "Happy the Hippo's" top speed is about 5 knots, and the vehicle has a single engine that ignites the bus' transmission on land along with the propeller in the water. At 20 tons it's a pretty heavy vehicle and a special ramp had to be built to provide access to Lake Ontario. We took a little spin over off the west end from the Exhibition Grounds exactly where we had a good look at Toronto's only wind generator (we are finally making baby-steps towards eco-friendly energy production....) exactly where we turned close to and headed back again towards Ontario place. While Dan had been driving during the water portion of the trip , Catherine, the other captain , and I stood at the rear of the vessel coupled with a great conversation. Catherine is a former insurance sales expert as well as after being laid off she went into a completely new career -- first as a Hippo tour guide, and she has also become a completely certified and certified Hippo captain. Catherine also knows plenty about fixing the vehicle and doesn't mind getting her fingers greasy when she functions maintenance duties about the bus on a daily basis. In her own off -months from November to april Catherine does a few cool things, for example volunteering her services to an animal preservation area to protect sloths in Costa Rica, or travelling extensively to Cuba. As a matter of truth , Catherine is a pretty cool and interesting individual herself and I is going to be doing a follow-
up intereview with her in the near future. Back on land all of us passed by Harbourfront and headed support towards the famous regal York hotel. Soon after we made a quick turn left as well as headed back to the actual Hippo Tours parking spot at 151 Front Street, only a tiny bit east from the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre (formerly called the Skydome), Toronto's multi-purpose stadium with the retractable roof. Catherine and I had a chance to catch up for about ten minutes after the tour had been over, and we quickly talked about doing a vocabulary study trip to Cuba, something that Catherine had been interested in. I shared some information with her since i have had the opportunity to review Spanish at the university of Havana earlier this year. It seems to me personally that Catherine is of an adventurer and i am really looking forward to catching up with her for more information about her new , unconventional lifestyle which went from business sales to being a road/lake captain for 6 months of the year, as well as doing some other cool stuff in the several weeks between.. Thanks again to Drew and the whole crew at Toronto Hippo excursions for spending their time with me as well as for giving me the chance to explore Toronto on a bus - on land and on the water....... condos in Costa Rica