Big Bus Tours New York Reviews 

DO NOT GET BIG BUS. We saw two of their buses broken down in 1.5 days and there were ppl in the line waiting for 15 mins. Their night tour is a scam because they won't tell you there's only one stop and no hop ons or offs. While most of their tour guides are nice and fun, I had one of them telling me that I had to take my wife home because she's tired. This is after only 2 stops being on the blue line. Their buses don't stop at all the stops mentioned in their app or brochure. You'll have to walk for 13 mins because their stop for the liberty cruise is temporary out.
Bottom line, go with the Greyline buses. Much better service and they have stops everywhere plus more buses are available.

The ride and tour guides were great but you need to improve on tickets . Like issuing wristbands. And more stop locations .

Tour was great. Just wish it wasn’t a requirement to use two day bus pass in consecutive days. Would have worked better for us to be able to use Monday and Wednesday.

One problem: by 3PM, under the sun, had to wait during 30 minutes:-(

I rode the red and blue (downtown & uptown) routes in early June. I had one frustrating thing. Before visiting NYC, I had contacted the Big Bus Tours customer desk to check whether I could ride an entire route (from the 1st stop to last) and continue riding for a few more stops (so I could transfer to the other line smoothly). Customer service said it was possible, and I could continue sitting, and the tour will continue. Wrong. At the last stop, all passengers must leave the bus because the staff will take a break. I wish customer service knew how things work at the site.
The tour itself was excellent. The female guide of our red route was very knowledgable but spoke too fast. "To the right is ***, to the left is ***. That's the ***" It was hard to tell which building she was referring to. But overall, I loved it. If you're sitting through the entire route, I suggest you bring cushions for comfort.

Extremely arrogant, ignorant and EXTREMELY unhelpful staff at their 42nd St, Office. Can't believe, I had to 'force' them to help me as I had purchased a New York Pass (Another one to avoid) to be used on my mobile for that day. The e-mail was NEVER received, yet I have a purchase reference, the instructions stated I could go to Big Bus to retrieve the pass AND to get the Big Bus access. Well, if I did, wow I was told to wait up to 2 HOURS for the e-mail ???? I only had the ONE day and had bought the ticket for instant MOBILE access. Anyway, to cut a VERY frustrating and VERY long story short, he gave me the required access code for the app and off I went, only to find out I HAD to come back again to have the SAME person print out the bus tickets for me. What a clown and COMPLETELY unhelpful person. I hope he enjoyed his day DUPING customers. NEVER AGAIN. Stay way, they will play games with you.

Would have to think twice before taking My son doesn’t like to sit on top and no air conditioning on bottom. Terrible!! One trip bus broke down! Had to wait for another! Tour people were nice but not worth the aggravation of no ac

Just back from 5 days in New York. Bought the 2 day pass that included the liberty cruise and night tour. Can honestly say I was the best thing I did. So easy to jump on and off. Saw everything and never waited for more than 5 minutes for a bus. The night tour was amazing. Bought the tickets in UK before we went so cheaper. Just showed them on the first bus and they swapped it for the real tickets. No hassle at all. Liberty cruise was stunning. Staff fantastic.

Could be better sign posted where to get on.

We loved the experience! I took my granddaughter for her 13th birthday. And brought her mom along also. We loved the Big Bus and had so much fun. We got to see so much of New York that we would not have if we hadn't ridden the bus. Everyone should experience New York this way!

The buses were clean, frequent at pick ups and the guides were fun and knowledgeable.

we weren't happy that all of the buses didn't make all of the stops and there were times we had to wait a long time for a pick up.

Best way to get around New York , the tour guides were helpful
We also did night tour it was excellent the guide was great made New York a great holiday.

Excellent. Saw most of the attractions if not all using big bus tours. Great value for money already recommended to friends.

It appeared a few of the employees gave out misinformatiom about madam toussant wax museum tour I was told I could attend for free only to be turned around feeling embarssed

Some of the employees did not know times of statue of liberty sailing employees also in told us that we could walk from lower manhattan to the circle line tour. We were informed it was a 10 minute walk away, an to just to follow the water along West Street
Overall all worker were friendly

Downtown tour was farrr better than uptown tour. Took a ride on 21/05/19 morning for downtown. Loadsss of sights to see on this tour and handy tips given by guide. Best to do a bus tour on your first or second day of your trip so you get a feel of the area and where you could potentially visit etc. Shout out to Chinaza Okeke who works at the stops, really guided and welcomed us on. Another shout out to John Harkins who did the commentary for the tour. Very informative, great sense of humour and truly loved his job from my perspective, left a tip too !!!!. Could make it a bit simpler in collecting tickets for New york Pass users, having everything in one location.
On the other hand Uptown tour is very boring, not much to see and not as exciting as downtown in my opinion.

Very difficult process trying to get on the bus. We were waiting at a stop for 45 minutes, no bus. Called and was told to go down the street to a different bus. Went. Tried to get on a bus. There was no one there to scan our purchased tickets. Had to get off the bus and go to another location to get the actual printed ticket. All in all we wasted at least 2 hours. Very frustrating. Once you're on the bus, its a nice experience. But good luck getting on.

A great way to explore the city and jump on and off for the attractions. Our group thoroughly enjoyed the commentary given by the tour guides( especially SHERWOOD- his knowledge, professional and attentive approach, humour, clear voice was amazing- make sure you jump on to his bus!!) Thank you so much Sherwood ! .
Also, must say these drivers are skilled at route planning and adapting to road closures, vehicle handling and smooth use of the controls. Definitely recommended Big Bus.