Bay Area Ski Bus

We had a GREAT experience with Bay Area Ski Bus. Loved the convenience of not having to drive, plus the food, movie and hosts made the trip smooth and enjoyable.
When we misplaced our ski poles on the ride back, Ryan went out of his way to help us get them returned. He went above and beyond, and we were very impressed. We will definitely be back, thanks for a great day on the mountain :)

We were on the bus from San Jose, through Oakland, to the snow. Really nice folks shepherded us safely, and as promptly as traffic allowed, to Squaw. Fun, interactive, and very customer service oriented. A decent breakfast up, a little cookout before the trip back, and a lot of character made it feel great.
One knock: a day or two before the trip they delayed the departure time by one hour, and I wonder if we wouldn’t have hit much less traffic if we had left at the original time. But that’s the only reason I’m not giving five stars, and they did give plenty of advance notice.
I’d recommend this service to anyone wanting to do a day trip without driving.

tldr: Great service and communication. I took the bus up to Heavenly on a Saturday and due to storm issues they had to reroute us to Sierra but the transition was very smooth and well timed. We will also be refunded the difference between the two which is good to hear.
Compared the NacSki, they are better in the following ways:
* Newer and cleaner buses
* Better breakfast: breakfast included juice, yogurt and a pastry /​bagel
* Better après ski: includes hotdogs, mixed rice crackers, alcohol (21+ bus), hot cocoa and cider, cookies, chips and granola bars
* Nicer chains: not as loud or as bumpy
* More timely
* Better organization with the lift ticket pickup when you get to the resorts
* Movie choices for the trip back: princess bride, guardians of the galaxy, airplanes and pitch perfect 2 (we watched 2 of them)
We left exactly on time bus got to the resort a bit late ~10:15am but it was expected due to storm issues. We left at around 4:45pm and were timely on arrival. Overall a fantastic and worry-​free experience!

I was on a Bay Area Ski Bus trip yesterday. I signed up because I love to get up to the Sierra to ski, but I want to minimize the environmental impact. Here’s what I figured. Going up to ski in my own car I drive 350 miles and at 30 mpg that comes out to over 11 gallons of gas. If I ride the bus which I estimates gets 5 mpg it will burn 70 gallons of gas. Divide the car’s 11 gallons between two people and you get 5 ½. Divide the bus by 50 and you get 1.4. That’s a smaller carbon footprint for sure.
Not having to drive and to put on chains was a big plus. Our driver was efficient and careful and patient. We were scheduled to go to Kirkwood, but the Carson Spur was too risky for avalanches so CalTrans closed 88. The hosts and company made a good decision to re-​route to Sierra Tahoe. They helped everyone get their rental reservations changed.
I trimmed a star off the rating because the breakfast did not have any source of caffeine. What? I would have loved a hot cup of coffee on the bus, but I realize that would be difficult and messy. How about stocking some cans of coffee drinks.
It was an awesome day of skiing and despite having to get up at 3 am I’m pretty rested on the day after the trip. I’ll take the Bay Area Ski Bus again.

Great trip today on Bay Area Ski Bus to Sierra at Tahoe. Incredible snow. Skied with people I just met today on the bus. The Ski Bus does a great job. Mother Nature gave us lots of snow — causing road closures and traffic snarls. Our hosts, the Bay Area Ski Bus and our awesome bus driver got a bus full of happy and now tired skiers and snowboarders there and back safely.

Like R G., I was on the Ski Bus for the January 9 trip to Northstar. The trip to Northstar took about 6 hours. This was partly due to traffic and weather, but approximately 2 hours were lost because of a mechanical failure of the bus. A bus that was ahead of us returned from Northstar to transport us to the mountain allowing us to salvage about 3.5– 4 hours of time on the slopes.
Unlike R G., I have not received a response from the company to two emails regarding compensation for the mechanical failure and time lost (I requested a partial credit for a future trip). Perhaps a low review on Unilocal!is what is necessary to get their attention.
Right now, I can’t see booking another trip until I receive a response from the company. I’m disappointed that they haven’t lived up to their positive reviews. At the very least, they should acknowledge my communications to them.

Stay away! very disappointing company and terrible customer service :
— the bus broke down in the middle of the freeway, we had to wait for another bus and change bus between the access ramp and freeway (extremely dangerous)
— we arrived at 11:30 at northstar (6:30 hours …)
— no bus to take us back to San Francisco at the end of the day, we waited in the cold parking from 3:30 to 5:15 when the bus finally arrived
— the staff decided to make an unplanned stop of 25 min to have food at jack in a box …
— we wrote to the company a week ago but have not yet received a reply to our emails
To conclude, we bought a one pass to Northstar and we were only able to ski 3 hours… Very disappointing indeed

Owner reached out to me directly and clearly did everything in his power to better the situation.
Awesome customer service.

Such a lovely way to spend a day skiing! The bus picked us up in San Francisco at 5am, we slept until around 8am, they fed us bagels and other little breakfast goodies and we were on the slopes by 9. Getting breakfast, not having to stand in line for lift tickets and being able to leave stuff locked up in the bus all day made the trip a breeze. Also found the modest après-​ski event and ski trivia on the bus ride home really adorable and sweet. Nice camaraderie on the bus and you can tell they try to make it special for you. It’s nice to ski from 9am to 4pm and be home before 9, without ever having to drive!

Used this service the past weekend. Driver took about 40 mins if not more to get the chains on, then after riding on the chain for about 30 mins later, the brakes failed. It was already 10:30 and we were still sitting in the middle of freeway waiting for rescue. A second bus was sent to pick us up and we didn’t make it up for a run until 12:00pm. Mind you I was on the bus since 4:00am. On the way back, the bus is usually there waiting for us by 4:00, but since they had to sent a different bus, we were told the bus will arrive at 4:30, ended up not being there until 5:15pm. With all that, we only had 3.5 hours of play time. Wrote to the company and no reply.

Wow, these guys are awful. Don’t waste your money on this, just get a couple of friends and drive up. I was picked up at 4am and sat in a bus till 1130am. Driver had no clue, brakes had issues, chains could not be removed, driver had no clue how to park a bus. To make things worse the doors didn’t stay up while getting out my ski, the door hit the top of my head. Not even a sorry or let me help you get the items off the bus. Spoke To THE Owner Brian and he was a jerk. Claimed I was never on the bus… rude and said to call up the bus company. Stay away, save your cash, save time. Waste of money and a weekend
And I was almost knocked out cold from getting in the head.

For a company that has pretty much monopoly of the market (for now), you’d think that they would ensure customer satisfaction and stand by its promotion. After all, barriers to entry for this type of business is LOW. So last week I reached out to the owner, Brian, regarding the 8-​trips for $ 945 promo after seeing it for several weeks on its site. Later that evening, I checked the website again and found that the promo was taken down from the site. So I wrote him again asking if he would honor my request to purchase seeing that I reached out to him before the ad was taken down. When he finally responded to my email, this is what he wrote:
Hi
Sorry, we are no longer selling the 8-​Packs for this Season and haven’t since Dec 14. We recently put the Sold Out label on that page only after someone had inquired about buying one, but again they have not been available to purchase since mid December.
Brian McCooey, CEO
Recreation Connection, Inc.
So let me see: he knew, according to the email, that the promo was sold out over three weeks ago yet he knowingly left the offer on his site, to (fill in the blanks) people? Disappointing business practice, guys. Let’s see if another company comes up with something better.

I think this company paid people to write their Unilocal 5 star reviews because this is a NO STAR COMPANY!
Currently waiting for the bus. As of now rating should be Zero. We are the first pick up location and have been waiting for Over an HOUR and half! Been here since 3:40AM. literally throwing my money away right now. .if you rich and don’t care about money you should use this service but if you actually care about money just drive. This is extremely unprofessional and I’m extremely disappointed by this company.
Picked up at 5:15.BUS DRIVER asked for a GPS fromUS, the customers. We are the customers, the company should be providing the driver with all the details. ALSO driver is super unprofessional and does not know how to drive the damn bus. ALSO, where’s the damn movie!!! Not gonna lie, fearing my life at the moment. Not sure if we going to actually make it to squaw.
BUS DRIVER IS LOST. WHAT THE HECK.
UPDATE: Okay we were all refunded! In the end the CEO emailed all of us providing a refund. I definitely do appreciate the the fact that the CEO does care about his company. I hope that there are no problems in the future!

Before you read all the bad stuff… know that Bay Area Ski Bus made sure that we had the best trip under the circumstances, with positive representatives and refreshments at the end. which was cool.
The bus was 1.5 hours late in San Jose! What was the hold up? Not like we have a snow storm here. Bus drivers should be on point! I worry about their ability. Bus driver turned around and said «you guys know how to get to the next stop?» And he was serious. No joke. We found out later in the trio that BASB used another coach service at last minute.
The bus ride went way longer than anyone expected. We had to be directed to Sugar Bowl instead of Squaw Valley because of the late arrival.
We were upset, but Sugar Bowl was pretty sweet. BASB had their hotdogs, wine, beer, and snacks after the short day of runs.
Bay Area Ski Bus came through at the end of the day and refunded our lift tickets we paid for Squaw Valley. All in all… I made some cool new friends and it was an adventure.

Stay AWAY from this ski bus. Run for the hills.
Bus was half an hour late at SF pick up, spent at total of 2 hours on the side of the road trying to get the snow chains on (and failing), and the original plan of Squaw Valley got changed to Sugar Bowl. Driver got lost within Sugar Bowl, and then got stuck in the middle of the parking lot right before the base, wouldn’t let us out even though it was within walking distance to the rentals/​ticketing area. From the scheduled SF pick up of 4am until we were finally let off at 11:30am, was seven and a half hours…
Managed to get 3.5 hours of skiing in before getting back on the jolly old bus… which still did not have both chains on by the time I arrived. what were the drivers doing for 4 hours? The chains of course started coming off on the way back, driver pulled over and fiddled around again, started driving, chains come off, but at this point the driver seemed like he gave zero f*cks — he just kept driving and eventually the clanking stopped, so I guess the chains just came off in the middle of the road. Took about 5 hours to get back to SF from Sugar Bowl.

I have never seen such an unprofessional and unreliable company. The bus is almost 2 hours late and I am still waiting! I have not received any updates from Bay Area Ski Bus and I can’t get a hold of anyone because they are all sleeping. If I didn’t see the reviews from others in the South Bay I would have left long ago. From what I understand the bus driver was late and didn’t know where he was going. I am assuming the bus is lost right now and will probably not show up.
I would hope that the company would have enough sense to give us refunds, but who would be able to compensate us for time lost on the slopes? We were all expecting to go to Squaw today but now will have to cancel these plans.
After this experience I recommend going with NACS bus or the NorCal Snowboarders meetup group. They are more reliable and will at least show up.
UPDATE: After waiting for 3 hours I finally left. No bus. No Tahoe.
UPDATE #2: found out the pick up time changed and they forgot to tell me about it!

Driver was late (1 HOUR LATE). Then he was snappy with other customers! Didn’t really know how to drive the bus well. There was no movie? How are you going to be a driver and not have GPS??? He had to get directions from a customer because he got lost. I told myself I would never completely trash talk a business on here but they need to revamp their hiring process! F**k this shuttle I’m taking a different one next time and I’m asking for a refund!
**Update**.
So the bus has a flat tire and the chains fell off the wheels and one of the host said we are rerouting to another mountain for safety reasons. Also there will be a Rep to talk about comps/​refunds. Another update coming soon!
**Update**
We are stuck in the snow! At the wrong mountain! HOLY F***ing S***… The chains
**Update**
So the company bought our Lift tickets to sugar bowl… Thats the park we went to. Got in about 4 hrs of runs! The park was nice. wasn’t extravagant or anything but it was good for me! One of the host said email the CEO so I will.
One thing I will say is the driver was cool … Just don’t be late next time dude… and get a gps … (BASB gave him sh**y directions.). The let me use his charger and hes a pretty cool/​nice person… ALL THE BUS PROBLEMS AREN’T HIS FAULT… THE COMPANY LEASES THEM!
The host put a movie on for the return drive back. (Bruce Almighty)
I added a star because besides getting to the park (even though a different one) The day turned out ok!
The CEO of the company sent myself and everyone a email … He is refunding all the customers. He apologized and I felt it was sincere… I might try this place one more time!
One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn’t pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself. — Lucille Ball

Yesterday I had taken my first this season ski bus trip to Kirkwood.
Positive: you would get to the resort and back home.
Negative: the bus was OLD (it was my first time to ride on such an old bus). Instead of getting us to the resort as usual promise between 8:30 and 9:30 am, we got to Kirkwood around 10:45 am (consider this: the other Bay Area Ski bus from SF got to Kirkwood at 8:15 am) and it wasn’t power day or horrible traffic.

SAVE $ 10 on your first trip! Here’s how: When you are registering for your first time and you get to the field labeled «referred by» enter this:
. Credit will be added to your account.
I’ve tried other bus companies and Bay Area Ski Bus is definitely the best. You get to rest the whole way up and they serve breakfast (bagels, cream cheese, pastries, yogurt, juice, water). When you get to the mountain you are rested and ready for a full day of boarding or skiing. When you get back to the bus they throw a little party for you with BBQ hot dogs, snacks, fire pit, music, beer and wine. They had a good keg of some craft IPA last time I went. It feels good to be able to wind down and fill your belly before a relaxing ride home. They show a couple movies and before you know it, you’re back. In my opinion, its the best way to take a day trip to Tahoe without making the tiresome drive yourself. I would definitely recommend taking a trip; you won’t regret it.

More and more I have been disappointed with the Bay Area Ski Bus​. I used to LOVE them, and yet not I hardly feel like they care or even try. I really wonder what happened to a company I really supported and clamored for. They just have missed the boat this year in all regards. How so?
1. Horrible customer service. Really I mean do you even have customer service?! No one returns calls, get’s back to you, and you have to really chase them down to get answers. I called every two weeks looking for better schedules, to be told they are coming check back, we will email (No you will not). I left five messages for Kevin before he ever responded and that was after other calls worried about the schedule.
You would think if someone is bugging you for the updated schedule, trips for certain days or so. you would email said person when you updated the schedule or posted trips on those days. Did they? NOOOOOO Of Course NOT! What?! Follow through? Doing what they say? Taking care of customers? HA! That would make sense. I am lucky I check their website ²⁴⁄₇ and find the info on my own.
2. Their parties have been pathetic duds, with hosts who do not care and are half asleep themselves. Their selection of snacks is crappy, what happened to the smores. I heard multiple people whine about no beer, I had wine so I didn’t care. Where did the music go… really what happened? Oh the hotdogs are disgusting, please get better quality.
3. The driver. drifting, half asleep, one eye open at a time… OMG SCARY! Then not taking a nap during the day? Please, please, don’t kill me or give me nightmares hearing stories of how you drifted off the road a few times. Thanks, now I can’t sleep and wasn’t that a perk?
4. Broken down buses, stuck in Tahoe until 6:30pm
5. Where is there marketing? They do not do any proactive outreach to help their customers. Alert your customers who have rides with you still when you post new rides. Let them know hey we appreciate that you are loyal and see you have not used your rides yet, can we help.
6. Awful User Experience on the website, hard to find anything or buy tickets. I had to HUNT for the updated April schedule. It is like you don’t want people to find it, or maybe your marketing team doesn’t because there is no promotion on the new released schedule.
7. Worst schedule this year EVER! Plus horrible organization. Really what happened?
I guess I need a new ski bus for the next year because they are so over it is starting to stink.

Bay Area Ski Bus is great. Just arrived back home from my trip to Northstar. We left Fosters City on time, had a peaceful bus drive in the morning which included breakfast, an amazing day on the mountain, a great Apres Ski party w/​drinks, hot dogs, etc. — and a lot of fun on our way back. I’m so much looking forward to my next Tahoe ski trip.