ShopDineTour Toronto

ShopDineTour Toronto, registered as Urban Inc., is a tour company based in Toronto, Ontario. They are a subsidiary brand of The Bus and Boat Company.

History

They began as Shop Toronto in May 2002, where owners Timothy Finlason and Troy Lamsee offered tours of Toronto focusing on Toronto’s many shopping districts with a fifteen passenger replica trolley bus. Over the course of their first season, they quickly developed important relationships with local hotels and downtown retailers.

By the end of the 2002 season, it was noticed that there was a demand for double decker bus tours. In late 2002, two antique double decker buses were purchased. For the 2003 tourism season, Shop Toronto acquired an additional fifteen passenger trolley replica bus and expanded the tour to incorporate both shops and restaurants, with an important focus on Toronto history. In 2008, a former GO Transit MCI motorcoach was acquired for inclement weather.

Beginning in May 2009, ShopDineTour Toronto operates the free Vaughan Mills Shopping Shuttle. A specially wrapped ex-GO Transit MCI motorcoach was used. The other MCI ws used as a backup. In 2010, ShopDineTour Toronto began running a free shuttle from Toronto to Main Street Unionville. Two Prevost H3-40 motorcoaches were acquired for the service.

ShopDineTour Toronto became an affiliate of The Bus and Boat Company, the operator of the City Sightseeing Toronto and the Gray Line Toronto franchises. The Bus and Boat Company acquired the Gray Line assets from PMCL in late 2011. While the Gray Line buses were rebranded for both City Sightseeing and Gray Line, ShopDineTour buses initially retained their own branding; however, starting in 2014, the ShopDineTour Toronto branding began to be gradually phased out in favour of the City Sightseeing Toronto branding.

All-time roster

Fleet number	Year	Manufacturer	Model	Engine	Transmission	License plate	Notes
None		Blue Bird	TC/2000				At least two units. Used for Harbourfront condominium shuttle.
None	1968	Bristol/ECW	Lodekka/bus body				Ex-United Auto/Northern.^[1] Acquired by ShopDineTour Toronto in 2002.
DDD69-1	1973	Daimler	Fleetline			686 3BF (prev. BM2 737)	Has PVT6 British plates New to Rotherham Corporation Transport as OET 108M To The Bus and Boat Company 7074.
DDL66-2	July 1966	Leyland	Atlantean			BL6 593	Ex-Portsmouth 252. Has ERV252D British plates. To The Bus and Boat Company 7073.
DDL70-3	1977	Leyland/Roe	Atlantean			BN4 528	New to Ipswich Buses as 31 Has ADX1 British plates To The Bus and Boat Company 7076.
DDB-4	1980	Bristol/ECW	VRTSL3	Gardner 6LXB		BM8 627	New to Yorkshire Traction Company Limited as 928^[2] To The Bus and Boat Company 7075.
BB-5		Blue Bird	All American trolley replica			BM2 745	To The Bus and Boat Company 5470.
MCI-6	1990	TMC	102-A3	Detroit Diesel 6V92TA	Allison HT-740	BM9 364	Ex-GO Transit 15xx. Used and wrapped for Vaughan Mills Shopping Shuttle. To The Bus and Boat Company 4980.
MCI-2-7	1991	MCI	102-A2	Detroit Diesel 6V92TA	ZF 5HP600	BM8 750	Ex-GO Transit 1464. Backup unit for Vaughan Mills Shopping Shuttle or Sightseeing tours. To The Bus and Boat Company 4979.
TF-8		Ford ?	? Replica Trolley
TF2-9	2003	Ford ?	E-Series Replica Trolley
DDB69-10	1976	Bristol/ECW	VRTSL3	Gardner 6LXB		BM9 375	New to Bristol Omnibus Company as 5515 UK License plate was LHT 725 P To The Bus and Boat Company 7077.
None		Ford/Girardin	minibus				Ex-?; acquired in spring 2010.
(two units)		Prevost	H3-40	Detroit Diesel 6V92TA	Allison HT-740	BM9 384 BM9 385	Ex-?; acquired around May 2010. One wrapped and used for Unionville Shuttle (BM9 385) and other all white (BM9 384, previously wrapped for the Toronto International Film Festival in Sep-2011).
None		Prevost	H3-40			333 3BF	Ex-?; acquired around late 2010. To The Bus and Boat Company 4781.