Big Bus Washington DC

I wrote this email to Big Bus Tours while waiting 30 minutes in front of the Lincoln Memorial on their yellow bus. Apparently we needed to wait for another bus to arrive. There were three buses there and nobody was moving.
My family purchased tickets the Friday morning before MLK day at using a Groupon and it took us more than one hour to get from near the White House to the zoo.
Following our visit it took us 30 minutes for a bus to arrive from which we transferred to the yellow line.
At that point at particular stop involving a hotel location a dispatcher got on the bus and told us that we needed to email our Groupon to aid office where our ticket with them reprinted for my handheld machine. Up until the time we had been on and off buses with no problem and your drivers asking only to see the Groupon on our phone
Nobody discussed with us the need for any tickets or the availability of a nighttime bus ride or the availability of the Madame Tussaud’s museum ticket.
I followed up on this email calling the office and spoke with the supervisor who adamantly refused to refund our money and offered a voucher to be used within one year. Due the epic snowstorm I told the supervisor that I would wait a few days until they had time to reconsider their position but I never heard anything again and therefore I post this review.
There is no way I would ever use such a voucher or do I expect to be back in the Washington area for the next year. I urge you for short trips to use a taxi at the metro.

I revise my review earlier to 4 stars. Still waiting on the refund they promised and I’ll change to 5.

I do not recommend buying tickets for Big Bus under any circumstances and I feel bad about all the times I’ve recommended them in the past. Although I live in DC and rarely visit the sights, I work in the hospitality industry so I’ve recommended this service to many tourists in the past and now I feel terrible!
Earlier this year, I bought tickets for Big Bus to show my mother and grandmother the cherry blossoms during their visit. I expected the experience to be intense but it was just TERRIBLE. No, Big Bus can’t be blamed for street closures, but they should at least be informed about closures and plan accordingly. We walked so far and were misdirected so many times that my aging grandmother (who’s lifelong dream it was to see the blossoms) was ready to go home before we got on a bus. We FINALLY got on, after seeing countless buses from other companies pass us by, and were taken to Union Station to start the tour over from the beginning, all while listening to the Big Bus employees complain about how they didn’t want to be there and everything was disorganized, etc. Also, the windows in the bottom bus don’t open and the AC was broken and it was PACKED and HOT. People were demanding to be let out at stop signs.
At Union Station, we were told we could stay on the bus, then that we had to get off, then that we could stay on, then that we had to get off. We basically refused to get off, along with a bus load of other passengers, and they finally, slowly, drove us around the tidal basin, where no one dared to get off because we knew we’d never get back on. After one loop, we were done with our 2-​day ticket. Somehow, in all the disorganization, I ended up riding for free (they only redeemed two of the tickets and told me mine would be collected later) so I thought I’d try again during a less hectic time.
So, on a lovely weekend in October, I took two other guests, visiting from Germany, on what we’d hoped would be a quick loop around the sights so that we could spend the rest of the weekend enjoying «real» DC. Sigh…
Instead, we were, yet again, misinformed about road closures and told that the «purple loop» would be avoiding the monuments until later in the afternoon. All of our passes were upgraded to a 2-​day ticket and we were told that all loops would be normal on day 2. Well, even when the purple loop was the only one running, we waited for over an hour for the bus between loops. Then, I swear this happened!, as soon as the bus picked us up, it broke down and we were all told to exit the bus and wait on the sidewalk for the next one. Meanwhile, the SAME GIRL from the Cherry Blossom weekend was STILL complaining and shouting at passengers not to cross the street because it’s dangerous, etc. Are you kidding?! If I’m old enough to wait for an hour on the side of the road, I’m mature enough to cross the street without some kid giving me permission. It was a freaking nightmare, and we ended up walking back to the white house and skipping the monuments until day 2.
Day 2: you guessed it! Only the purple loop is running, but they don’t tell us until driving us 4 blocks in the wrong direction. Thankfully I’m from DC and know my way around because the drivers basically lied and told us they were taking us to the monuments as they drove in the opposite direction. Then, a second person got on and confessed that it was purple loop only AGAIN. He had no info on road closures or when they would reopen the other loops. Again, we get out blocks away from everything and walk back, practically in tears, because not only had they not delivered on showing us the sights, but we had wasted both days of the visit walking around downtown (a ghost town on the weekends) between bus stops. I saw several families demand a refund on the spot, which I wish we had done on day one. If we’d paid for the tickets with a credit card, I would have disputed the charge. Don’t do it!

Definitely a good trip I just wished I have more Day Time to visit the museums.
I embarked on a less-​than-​24hr, sleep on Amtrak, day-​before-​Thanksgiving Washington DC backpack trip. To be super stringent on time and avoid DC’s non-​refundable SmartTrip subway system as much as possible, Big Bus (because it is at the exit) seemed legit and was the easiest way to get around. Of course later I found the competition is strong in the city, at least 4 or 5 hop on/​off busses are available)
I liked the Red/​Blue line a lot but do not recommend Yellow line (I should have jumped off at the Wax Museum but underestimated the pace of Yellow was much slower).Fall routes stops at 4pm makes planning a little bit harder (museum opens until 7pm) Sitting outside is great for picture but very chilly in Late November. I never found the time to visit the museums (alas), try ice skating outside of National Gallery of Art (looks pretty fun), or have some fine dining experience (around China Town and 7^th). I was able to take a lot of photos on the bus and quickly have an idea about which interested the most.
Henry is great. He was my Tour Guide on 2 rides (half Blue line after I jumped on at Arlington and Night tour) and really enjoyed his effort (tough crowd in Night Tour) to provide laughters and knowledge about DC In such a short time. A good guide is an interesting person with charisma. Washingtonians breathe and live politics, US history, and symbolisms. The city is very serious and organized and a little pricey. Compared to Big Bus Shanghai, I prefer the human factor over the robotic recordings in the tour, as well as the freedom to change between different color lines (although sometimes long and aperiodic schedule)

Watch out! They make promises they do not keep. Told us they would drop us in dupont. Only to find out they dont run that way after the night tour. Left us in the middle of nowhere. Save your money. Ripoff ripoff.

Despite some pickup times being too long and a very hard to understand your guide on one of the buses, this was an awesome way to see the city. We bought the two day pass and took advantage of every minute– the first tour we did we had an AWESOME tour guide, Nur, who knew everything about the city, and even admitted to doing research every night to be better at his job. We loved him and got so excited when he was the guide for the night tour too! I highly recommend the night tour, which is free for the two day pass people. We toured the monuments and memorials, including the Marine memorial across the freeway (in the freezing rain) and it was totally worth it. We had a fun group too– inquisitive kids, history nerds like my husband and me, and out of townies from another country. Our guide walked through each memorial with a green light saber to help us find him and delivered not only an informative tour, but inspiring.
It was convenient to get on and off, we saw the entire city in two days, and felt we knew the layout of the city pretty well when the two days were up.
If you get this tour, call in advance and find Nur. Find him– you will be happy you did!!!

If I could give zero stars I would. Horrible service, the bus drivers don’t know anything and the tour is not live (pre recorded though headphones) Most buses don’t even have AC and are ALWAYS late. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY. I suggest going with City Sights DC over this any day!!!

How are these people in business.
No bus showed up.
We called and were told to go to the White House to buy our ticket. We remembered seeing a rep in front of the White House the day before so there our group went.
They assumed we should know the White House stop is not the White House, it’s at a hotel close to the White House.
We were told different hours by different people.
Sometimes there was someone on board narrating, other times it was irritating music over and over with recordings.
Our 2.5 hour night tour ended up being close to 3.5. After one of the stops the bus pulled over and no announcement. Waited, waited, waited. Guide apparently had gotten off the bus to find people left behind at last stop.
Speaking of stop… going to stop this review. Just don’t do it. Poorly run tour.

Le doy una estrella, solo porque de haber recorrido en taxi me hubiera salido más dinero que pagar este tour de porquería. La vuelta a la cuidad tarda el doble de lo que ellos dicen. Los micros no pasan cada media hora pueden tardar hora y media. Es imposible recorrer más de 3 museos en un día porque se tarda más tiempo esperando el bus y la mayoria cierran a las 6.

I like how this guy says I’m entitled to my opinion. All of the following are FACTS, not opinions.
Bus never showed up. I waited for over an hour in the pouring rain.
Company NEVER picked up the phone when I called… on multiple occasions… to ask where the bus was.
I left a message on voicemail and received no reply.
Company failed to update website and/​or outgoing voice message to alert customers that busses were not running.
When I tracked a bus down, I could not get the employees to pry their attention away from their iPhones long enough to share any schedule information.
Those things actually happened. These are facts. These are not opinions.

Too slow and redundant. Not worth the $ 35. Don’t go, take the subway or city bus instead.

I have to give this tour 5 stars! We opted for a Night Tour of DC and had a great experience! Our tour guide Henry was very knowledgeable on history, DC, and everything in between. He was very personable, friendly, and just knew his stuff.
I would recommend arriving to your pickup destination 30 – 40 minutes early if you want to sit up top, and bring a jacket on the night tour. It gets pretty chilly after dark being so close to the water.
We got to see almost all of the major points, and this is a great alternative (or addition if you’re up for it) for anyone who doesn’t necessarily want to get out and go into every single place this is a beautiful way to see the city!
Again, have to give a shout out to Henry– he was amazing!

Terrible… Buses en muy mal estado… Muy costoso… No lo recomiendo! E
Creo que es mejor tomar la bicicleta.

This tour bus is terrible! The buses run once an hour and when it finally arrives, it’s standing room only.
The staff members are rude and and not interested in doing their job. I wouldn’t recommend this tour!

Don’t waste your time and money. This service is not consumer friendly, far too expensive for what you get, and pretty much useless. The staff are disinterested and lazy, but almost all of them are rude as they want to be. After all, they already have your money. This was the biggest waste of money for my whole east coast trip
The alternative is the DC Circulator. But a all fare 3 day pass. It takes you all over and runs far more often. It also drops you closer to the sites you want to see. I’m sorry I wasted my money. Stay away from Big Bus Tours!!!

Id give it ¹⁄₈^th of star if i could. We used them for 1 24hr tour and 1 night tour. 24hr tour: NEVER on time, buses too full (had to stand), no a/​c, rude & ignorant tour «aides.» Night time tour: NEVER ON TIME, started late, suppose to be 2.5hr but ended up 4 hour tour-​not because of traffic but because the stop tours took too long, didnt see national mall monuments at night, passengers fighting over top bus seats.
In short, the bus is NEVER on time so u spend alot of time just waiting-​standing in the sun-​4 the bus. Its exhausting and a waste of time. You are better off taking taxis (about 10 $ around capitol hill) or public transportation. Trying to call them is a joke. You get ENDLESS surveys and advertisements.

We did a Big Bus Tour in Philadelphia so we went with this brand here. You should negotiate in a free water with each purchased ticket. I don’t know why anyone should have to ask though. Also keep your receipt for any other cities to get a discount! Priced more than Philly but more tour lines. First we took a red line and there was tour guide. She was more factual versus funny which is ok by me because I love facts.
We got on the yellow bus the second day near georgetown at the circle and although the bus was handicap accessible the bus driver and operator were ignorant of needs or rights of disabled toddler in a stroller. On exit Selina refused to give me the bus drivers name. They really represented the company and themselves poorly.

Everything that could go wrong with tour, went wrong. Not on time, two different buses broke down, company wouldn’t offer refunds (only passes to wax museum… really!), kids hit by branches on upper decks, driver hits the gas before everyone gets seated, half of the trips are pre-​recorded, half are live. This is a tourist trap.
Über is better for less total cost and on-​demand service.

Avoid this bus liner.
The gentleman who sold us the tickets said if we wanted to be back to our original stop before the bus lines stopped (8pm) that we had to be on the yellow circular by 6pm. Sounded reasonable. We showed up at 5:30, the yellow line operator (Wes) came very late and then said he didn’t have time to make it back to our origin despite the fact that we would get there well before 8pm.
So somebody was lying, the man who sold us the tickets or the man who said his bus didn’t operate that late. Either way the end-​result was my family walked a mile in the rain to get to our hotel (infants can’t really ride in taxis or Ubers).
Only half the busses we rode on that hot summer day had air conditioning. More food for thought.

This is absolutely the worst experience I have ever had with a tour company. The buses do not run on time as promised. My family was stranded at the zoo even though we arrived at the bus stop at 4:20. The last bus runs at 6pm. There was never another bus to arrive after 4:20. We had to call a cab to take us back to our hotel.
The drivers are very rude and inconsiderate… yelling out demands to their passengers/​customers. This is an awful business and a complete waste of money. Hopefully this review will keep someone else from making the same mistake I made when I chose them.

This tourist trap looks good from afar and that’s about it.
Save your time, money and frustration and either take a trolley tour or try to venture out on your own. The folks on the trolley tours always looked like they were enjoying themselves. Our bus looked like we were headed off to prison. By the middle of our first day, it sort of felt like it too On a couple of occasions from our bus, I could hear the tour guide on the trolley next to us and got more information and spirit from them. Comedy.
The 48 hour tour is very misleading. It is not close to 48 hours. The rides are «available» from 8:30a to 6:00p. More like two days of abbreviated rides totaling about 10 – 12 hours in an older bus with mumbling, fast talking, barely audible, non-​interested guides. I’m sure there are other experiences to be had, but the consensus with several others on our various «Big Bus» tours were ALWAYS the same.
Did not feel like a good value at $ 46 even after a $ 25 dollar off coupon. If you want an additional 2.5 hours in the evening, it will cost another $ 46. As a reference point, consider that the $ 36 paid to the Marriott for valet parking was steep, though we didn’t have a problem with that. It’s a big city with big city prices.
Waiting for buses, poor customer service, more rude employees than helpful ones. The list can go on. The people working for the Big Bus must have not made the cut for the other tour companies. If you want to feel like and hang out with rejects, this is the tour for you.
Too bad for us the trolley tours were full and we settled for purchasing tickets for the Big Bus. Should’ve Ubered it and created our own tour instead.

I wish I had seen these reviews before purchasing this. It’s an absolute RIP OFF. The bus was never on time and the hours are inconvenient. We saw plenty of Old Town Trolley Tours and Double Decker tours fly by while we waited in the cold for our horrible Big Bus.
We couldn’t even hear the tour guide. They speak quickly with no emotion and the speaker system wasn’t working. One of the buses even broke down and we had to get off.
$ 46 per person = NOT WORTH IT.
DO NOT TOUR WITH THEM.