Limos and party buses in Langley

Booking a limo or party bus in Langley for grad, a wedding or a birthday? Before you compare quotes, know this: in BC, limo prices aren’t a free-for-all. The province’s Passenger Transportation Board sets a floor and a ceiling on hourly rates, bans tip demands and card surcharges, and has a specific rule for teenagers on party buses. Here’s what that means when you book, plus the one company we could confirm is actually based in Langley.

How much does a limo cost in Langley?

Licensed limo companies must charge within the Board’s hourly bands (Rule 19, before GST):

Vehicle	Seats (not counting the driver)	Minimum per hour	Maximum per hour
Small limo (sedan)	2 to 5	$75	$150
Mid-size (SUV, van, antique sedan)	SUV 6–7, van 6–11	$90	$160
Stretch car	8 to 11	$110	$175
Stretch SUV	8 to 16	$150	$240
Limo bus	17 or more	$175	no maximum

A company can also quote a flat point-to-point price or a per-person fare instead of hourly, but it has to tell you the rates and charges before the trip starts (PTB rates page).

What else can they charge?

The rest of the rules are in Rule 18. The useful bits for a customer:

1. One hour minimum. A company can set a longer minimum, but only if it tells you when you book.
2. Extras must be disclosed up front. Tolls and parking, a decoration fee (ribbons for a wedding car), a clean-up fee, standby time, driver meals, and a per-kilometre charge from the company’s base to your pickup are all allowed, but only if you were told at the time you agreed.
3. The clock may start at their garage. If the hours are counted from somewhere other than your pickup, they have to say where and roughly how much time that adds. Worth asking when the company is based in Surrey or Abbotsford and you’re in Aldergrove.
4. No tip requests. Operators can’t ask for or require a tip or gratuity. You can still give one.
5. No credit card surcharge, and discounts top out at 15 per cent.
6. Deposits and cancellations are whatever the company’s policy says, as long as you’re told before you agree. Get it in writing.
7. Too many people? If your group outgrows the vehicle you booked, they can charge the higher rate for a bigger one. If they can’t supply the size you booked and send something different, you pay the lower of the two rates.

Grad party bus rules: what parents should know

This is the one most Langley families run into in June. Any limo, party bus or stretch SUV with sideways perimeter seating for 12 or more passengers counts as a “perimeter seating bus”. If anyone under 19 is riding without a parent or guardian on board, the Board’s rule says:

• a parent or legal guardian has to give consent for each unaccompanied minor;
• a safety monitor must ride along. The monitor can’t be the driver, must be at least 25, must be hired by the limo company, and must have a criminal record check, first aid with CPR, naloxone training and the Board’s safety-monitor training, all within the last three years;
• the monitor does pre-trip checks of each rider’s health and emergency information and keeps track of everyone on and off the bus.

So when you get a grad quote, ask whether a safety monitor is included and what it costs. If a company shrugs at the question, that tells you something.

How to check a limo company is licensed

Open the Board’s limousine licensee list. It shows each licensed company’s legal name, trade name and the regional districts it’s authorized to work in. Langley City and the Township are both in Metro Vancouver, so look for that in the company’s row. Operating outside its approved area is one of the things the Registrar of Passenger Transportation can act on.

Search the list for the company’s name as it appears on the contract, not the website. Several limo websites with “Langley” in the name are run by companies based elsewhere, so a local-sounding web address isn’t proof of a local operator.

Langley limo and party bus companies

Langley City

• Infinity Limousine. Says it’s based in Langley and has been driving Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Whistler since 2005. The fleet page lists executive sedans and SUVs, a stretch limo (up to 8), a stretch SUV limo (up to 12), a 30-passenger limo bus and a 50-passenger motorcoach, for airport runs, weddings, grads, wine and brewery tours and Christmas light tours. On the Board’s licensee list as Infinity Limousine Inc. 604-514-9996. infinitylimousines.com

That’s the only limo company we could confirm as both based in Langley and on the licensee list this month. Most of the operators that serve Langley are licensed out of Surrey, Abbotsford and Vancouver; the licensee list is the place to check any of them.

If something goes wrong

Start with the company. If that doesn’t fix it, the Board’s rights and complaints page explains who handles what: the Registrar of Passenger Transportation for licence, rate and driver-conduct problems (604-527-2198 or 1-800-663-7867), and ICBC for insurance and accident claims. For anything unsafe in the moment, call 911.

Related

• Taxis and car rentals in Langley
• Wedding venues in Langley
• Party rentals in Langley
• Transit in Langley

Run a licensed limo company based in Langley that isn’t here? Send it in and we’ll check it the same way.

Something out of date? Tell us.