BoltBus

This bus stinks. Literally. First and last time for my wife and me on BB. I’m currently taking the BB out of san jose which was scheduled to leave at 11:55 am on 12 – 29. First, the driver, who is young, has no personality and herded us like cattle to put our luggage in the outside bins and us into the BB. He didn’t care. The youth suggests BB has made a financial decision in this economy to pay minimum wages with the result you get the bottom of the labor pool.
Then you enter and the bus literally smells like one giant gas station urinal. People looking around trying to figure out why. You try to get used to things like anyone but after 20 mins of hoping my nose would get use to it – it didn’t – I went to the front and asked the driver do all BB’s smell like this. He said «yeah, I smell it» as if he had some sudden damn (sorry, frustrated) nasal epiphany that his bus smelled like someone peed all over it two weeks ago. You had to feel your seat to see if someone urinated in it.
It gets better. He then asked me, a paying customer, to open his black bag and take out a bottle of Fabreeze and spray the bathroom. He also asked me to take out two packets of a blue powder and put them in the toilet. «Oh yeah, don’t get any on your hands.» He also tells me he’ll do some stuff when he stops in Avenal (2 hrs later). What else can you do with that smell but comply? So I did it carefully but still have unknown blue powder on my hands and sprayed all two drops of Fabreeze he had left in the can. Also tried spraying while walking back to him and noted looks of relief on passengers. All this suggests to me BB has made a financial decision to pay little or nothing on BB maintenance and/​or training. Any employee, including the driver, first boarding the bus knew it smelled like a pig pen and did nothing about it. The reason is BB elected not to empty its waste tank and BB knows they’ve got a captive audience in its passengers who can’t go anywhere once you’re en route.
And the smell has returned.
I’m giving one star only because I can’t register negative stars.
PS: my «waze» is clocking the driver at over 70 mph. He is frequently no more than one car length behind the car in front of him.
Sent from my iPhone

I’ve taken BoltBus several times back + forth from SJ/​SF to LA over the past couple years + have positive/​mediocre experiences to report from my travels. While tickets can sometimes be found for as cheap as $ 1, pricing is usually in the $ 30-​$ 45 range, which is much cheaper than you’d ever find a plane ticket, although the time investment is 7 – 9 hours on the road.
Tickets can only be booked up to 4 – 6 weeks in advance. Boarding order is based on booking order so when you’re browsing online, you can see if you’re going to be in Boarding Group A, B, or C … with C meaning you’re going to be stuck with one of the last seats on a crowded bus. Pricing increases with demand, during holiday weekends, + closer to the travel date so don’t be that person who gets suckered into paying $ 60 for a C ticket last minute. They accept both paper tickets as well as electronic ones emailed to your phone.
And, of course, I have to make the comparison to Megabus. Much like its chief competitor, each colorfully oversized bus features a clean interior with bathroom in the back. There are outlets at every seat + free WiFi… although in my experience, the outlets don’t always work + the quality of internet signal strength varies. Both services offer about 2 – 4 trips a day ranging from early morning to early evening, and both pick up/​drop off on Crandall Street, which is in front of the Diridon Station here
, not at the bus terminal on the side. I personally tend to go with whichever service is either cheaper or has a more convenient departure time.
Here’s a price comparison I pulled today for a trip from SJ to LA for some randomly picked upcoming dates:
1) Wednesday, ¹²⁄₁₆ —
^ Both have 2 scheduled trips but Megabus is the better bet as prices are cheaper
2) Sunday, ¹²⁄₂₇ —
^ Megabus has 2 scheduled trips, but Bolt has 4 trips including an elusive $ 1 fare!
3) Friday, ¹⁄₂₉ —
^ Bolt has not posted its schedule beyond January 6^th, but Megabus has an elusive $ 1 fare!
Other than pricing, of course there’s differences between the services:
Why Bolt?
— Bolt has a Rewards system where 8 rides will earn you 1 free. You have to create an account + be logged in when booking a trip for the rides to count.
— They have a Bus Tracking system so you can get realtime estimates of when your bus is stopping where. Useful if you’re traveling during rush hour or if your bus is late like my most recent one was.
— Their stop at LA Union Station is at the front of the building at the far left, which is more convenient than all the way in the back of the station where Megabus parks.
While this confuses most people as it’s not anywhere near the Patsaouras Transit Plaza bus depot in the back, it’s much more convenient than having to make that trek through the length of the station.
— They take their no-​drugs, no-​alcohol policy seriously. I witnessed a passenger get kicked off the bus at our stop in Avenal for smoking a joint behind the building. Poor guy.
Why Megabus?
— When I reviewed BoltBus LA last year (
), the price range had been $ 23-​$ 32 while Megabus was $ 10-​$ 45. As you can see from the price comparison above, Bolt doesn’t seem to have the edge in overall cheaper pricing anymore so the scale tips more towards Megabus, especially for advance planners.
— Megabus currently has their schedule posted all the way through mid-​March. And several of the March fares are $ 1-​$ 5! Having these schedules up months in advance is absolutely ideal for a trip planner!
— Their 30-​minute meal stop is in Kettleman City, which has a variety of places to eat including an In ‘n’ Out, McDonalds, Jack in the Box, Starbucks, etc. Bolt’s stop is a super random town called Avenal… where there’s one lone building containing a Subway, Asadero’s Mexican Food + the gas station store.
Dismal contrast.
— Both Megabus’ + Bolt’s SJ stop is at the Diridon Caltrain station so there’s no comparison there. However in SF, Megabus conveniently stops at the Caltrain station whereas Bolt is based at the Greyhound station in SOMA.
All in all, I’ve dropped 1 star from the 4 stars I’d given BoltBus LA last year due to the price hike, difficulty in planning trips in advance + recent mediocre experiences that make me more inclined to go with Megabus for future bus trips.

The bolt bus is a cheap way to get from San José/​San Francisco to LA for only about $ 30 – 40 one way. (Prices depend on how early you purchase a ticket). Buses come with outlets and free «wifi». Don’t expect much from the wifi since it is very unreliable and will take you about 15 minutes to send an email. I highly recommend you download at least 2 – 3 movies for the ride down or up since it will take about that same amount of time to get from SJ/​SF to LA.
The only bad things I have to say is that the bus is never on time but it reached its destination a lot earlier than planned. And don’t sit in the back because you can kind of smell the residue from the toliet from there and you don’t want to spend 6 hours smelling that

I’ve officially used the bolt bus twice and both times I’ve loved it.
I was always skeptical about using the bus system to take me from San Jose to LA and vise versa because I had heard the stories of it being terrible with the smell and a lot of homeless people living on the busses but one day I decided to take it and no stench of homeless people.
I love the fact that there are no stops in between the ride except for a rest stop at Avenal which is half way through the ride.
Avenal doesn’t have the greatest food selection. There is a subway, a convenience store, and a Mexican food place. The rest is usually about half an hour long.
The bus ride itself is comfy. The seats don’t feel dirty and give you enough leg room. The windows are tinted so the sun won’t be too bothersome. There is an outlet to charge your devices! And they have wifi on the bus, but it’s not that good.
The buses can be late due to traffic, so if you know you’re bus should arrive at a time where there is traffic elsewhere, expect it to be late.
I took a bus from SJ to LA at 8:50am and it was late by 20 minutes. It was expected to arrive by 3:50pm and we ended up getting to LA at 3:20pm. I’m not complaining at all about it being early.
All in all, I give this bus service a 5 for making my ride enjoyable and as short as possible.

Their wifi is really bad. I have taken two trips on it. Both the times the Internet was very spotty. Doesn’t work most of the time. Also no power ports in all seats. Otherwise the ride is decent and on time.

I didn’t ride this bus but making my rating based on the ease of online reservations and my daughter’s opinion who took the bus back from LA to SJ… Bus is not your typical «Greyhound Bus».nice and clean w/bathroom…safe feeling with exception to the pick up location in Hollywood. not a bus stop but an abandoned building and then when I saw a selfie of her walking on the side walk of of the building it scared me… looked like peeps had peed and puked on the side of the building. Luckily she had a friend that dropped her off waited until the bus picked her up before leaving. Other than that, way cheaper than gas and riding in the car for the same amount of time if not more to get to so cal.

Traveled with them for the first time, totally not satisfied. Not worth you pay for. No AC it was so hot all the way through. No reserved seating? Even though it says online that its going to be reserved seating. Got the seat all the way at the end of the bus, had no leg space or nothing. I dint like it.

Update on my previous baggage comment:
They do have different compartments for different cities. The bus driver told us if we were going to SJ then put your bags in this one, SF in the second, Oakland in the third. I guess I just missed it the first time! No more worrying about someone else claiming your bags.

This was my first bus ride from SJ to LA and the experience was great. The seats are spacious and comfortable. The bus was quiet and no one talks loud. The AC was adjusted to a comfortable temperature. The wifi is OKish (like .5−1Mbps) but as an engineer I understand the cost of the technology and I am pleasantly surprised at how reliable it is given the price that I paid for the ride.
Now I’ve heard a lot of crazy stories about greyhound and this bus does not bear any resemblance. (My friend who frequently ride buses between LA and SF told me some buses have more sketchy looking people. I see none on this bus.) The people riding the bus seemed nice, clean and courteous. The toilet was clean and odorless. The driver was accommodating and seemed like he enjoyed his job– one passenger didn’t bring his ticket/​barcode with him and the bus driver was able to check him in with his ID.
Yeah so overall I highly recommend this service. This is quite a comfortable and affordable alternative to driving/​airplane.

It was a good nice trip and I would use it again.

Lies! there is actually NO wifi! Me and everyone around me tried hooking on to this alleged wifi the entire ride. 8hrs! They need your email and survey to attempt to connect and then never connect you. Scam. Save yourself a long trip with no internet and take MegaBus! Their wifi is always strong and reliable.

Bus is late. No clear direction for first time user. Seat is still on the small side. Wifi is useless, I cannot get pass through with the connection page on iPod nor iPhone. Took too long to load each and every single connect page. Maybe better luck with a laptop. Price is fair, but not a bus I’ll use again.

I’ve used BoltBus on my three RT trips from LA to San Jose these past two months. The first time I’ve ridden on such a bus was on the East Coast, going from Boston to New York. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they have services like this on the West Coast!
Booking is very easy. there’s about 3 daily trips from LA to SJ (or SJ to LA). Prices depend on time of day and day of the week; I’ve found that Fridays and Sundays have the highest prices. Nevertheless, even with the higher prices on these days, the total RT price is likely cheaper than a one-​way plane ticket between the two cities, particularly if you’re booking last minute.
The BoltBus stop at the San Jose Diridon Station is across the street from the station entrance, where the Bay Area City Bikes are. There’s a sign that says Megabus, and that’s where you wait for the BoltBus. Although the bus arrives +/​-​10 minutes on the scheduled time, get there early because you don’t want to risk being the one late when the bus is on time (they don’t wait for you!). Sometimes the bus may arrive later, but that’s because they’re coming from SF/​Oakland, so there’s probably morning traffic. NOTE: For those who get on the bus at SF /​Oakland, please be more courteous and stop sprawling yourselves out across both seats! We know you’re tired — we are too — but we need places to sit too.

Bus is clean and spacious. The seats are extremely comfortable which is a huge plus. Unlike megabus and greyhound, you load your own luggage which is kind of eh. However, the bus driver is pretty friendly and accommodating. Most bus services saysay they can’t change the air, to make it fair for all. However our driver said he could change it if it gets too hot or cold.

My son rode BoltBus for the first time, and he’s now a convert! He took the bus from San Jose to Los Angeles. Loved it. Wifi, comfortable seats, a restroom, if necessary. The only hiccup was not knowing where to go at the San Jose train station. There were people lined up for MegaBus, but no one knew where the BoltBus riders were supposed to go. People asked other people, and it was finally learned that the bolt riders were to wait by the Mega riders, but closer to the train station, and that was exactly where the Bolt bus showed up.
I would also like to comment on the customer service of this company. It is AWESOME! I’ve had a few problems with changing dates, or losing an email confirmation, and I worked with David at BoltBus who made all the problems disappear. He was quick to return emails and was always charming.
Thanks for everything, BoltBus!

This is such a great service. I’ve done Greyhound from Oakland to LA before and the difference between that and BoltBus is remarkable. However, to Greyhound’s credit, the trip cost me only $ 2 (I know crazy right??). My round trip BoltBus journey was $ 55.
Bus Stop: Located in front of a bunch of blue rental bikes. This is my main gripe with BoltBus. I had no clue where the pickup spot was! I had to check Unilocal and thank goodness somebody had mentioned it before! Secondly the bus was about 10 minutes late, which is totally understandable, but if you don’t know if you’re really at the bus stop it can be disconcerting. It was impossible to know if I’d missed the bus cause I wasn’t in the right place or if it was late. On that note, they should consider doing text notifications. That’d be cool.
The ride itself is great. You do one pitstop at some middle of nowhere place with a convenience store, mexican restaurant, and a subway. The stop is 30 minutes long. The bus is very luxe with leather seats, seatbelts, outlets, and Wifi. The wifi was also surprisingly reliable.
If you sign up for their rewards program you get to board first and every 8^th ride is free. Membership is free too so it’s a no-​brainer really.
Happy travels!

This is the new underground secret about how to get around California. Especially as a Bay Area native who happened to (blasphemously) fall in love with the LA sunshine, I find myself making the trek up to the bay and back down about once a month, by car, plane, train, and now bus.
Just because this is run by greyhound, don’t make the mistake to think it’s another dingy bus full of randoms! Bolt bus is awesome! It has free wifi, power outlets at EVERY seat, a flush bathroom on board, leather seats, and really good drivers.
We left LA 10 minutes late on the 8am bus and got to SJ 40 minutes early! With a 30 minute stop. After San Jose, the bus continues onto SF and then Oakland. My driver was safe, conscientious, friendly (reminded us to take our jackets out at the break cuz it was cold), accommodating (gave a passenger a power block to have to charge her phone because she didn’t have one), and all around badass.
The experience felt much more «luxury» than megabus. The wifi was strong and reliable the entire time. Each outlet worked and charged my phone up quickly! Seats recline and leather was a nice touch.
Overall, if they can increase their schedule and do red eye bus rides between LA and the Bay Area, SF, or vegas, I will soon find myself taking no other forms of transport!
Tip: boarding is done by when you buy your ticket and get assigned a boarding number and letter but seating is open.
Tip; bring a blanket in case you get cold easily.
Tip: the earlier you buy the ticket the cheaper it is.