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On the negative side, the buses鈥?interiors were a tad on the old side, not uncomfortable or dirty, but a bit dated. Don鈥檛 expect a brand new luxurious coach. The WiFi was also pretty bad, but that鈥檚 not a problem if you have enough data on your plan.
Good value for under $60 round trip.
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The driver so kindly and professional .
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I purchased a ticket scheduled for a particular arrival time that cost more than others departure/arrival times because I was under the impression that it would allow me to arrive at a decent hour that would be convenient for me to make further travel arrangements. At some point, I realized there was no way we were going to arrive on time because we had yet to arrive at the first scheduled stop and we were way behind schedule. I asked the woman across the aisle from me if she had ridden with Go Buses before and she gave a resigned laugh and said from her experience, it was par for the course for Go Buses coaches to arrive many *hours* after advertised schedules. We both noted that it would be useful for the company to let customers know an 8 pm arrival time is in actuality, 10 times out of 10, 10:45 pm. Very frustrating. I confirmed with the driver that the coach was in fact behind the advertised schedule. When I asked him what the ballpark expected time of arrival was, so that I may inform my family and colleagues accordingly, he said he did not know.
At each stop, there was no announcement, audible or written, of the stop name. There was not clear signage at the stop itself (and the view out the window is obstructed given the "branding" of the coaches). This left passengers in the dark and confused. An improvement would involve an announcement of each stop through the vehicle's p.a. system.
needless waste:
I sat near the back of the bus and on my way to the seat I noted that each seat had a plastic bag hanging from the arm rest, presumably to collect rubbish. The bus ride I embarked on was at about 50% occupancy. Plastic bags are harmful to the environment and it appears each of these [mostly] unused bags were discarded (and sent to landfill) after our journey. I realize the bus itself causes a lot of environmental harm given its consumption of fossil fuel, but why add to that environmental degradation unnecessarily? An improvement would be to remove these plastic bags from the equation. If there needs to be a receptacle to collect rubbish during the bus ride, perhaps one large one either near the driver or elsewhere would be sufficient?
The payment methods/privacy concerns:
Why does one need to set up an account to purchase a bus ride ticket? Also, customers would appreciate the option to buy a ticket with cash. I understand that the company thinks it is "helping" people by offering online payments, but it should know that the option to pay online should be supplemental and not as a substitute to cash payments.
When posing this question to a representative of Go Buses, she became very indignant and retorted that buying a bus ticket is just like buying a plane ticket and "identities need to be verified." With all due respect: no, riding a bus is NOT the same as buying a plane ticket.
When purchasing the ticket online, I specifically opted out of receiving further adverts from Go Buses. That selection was not respected and my inbox was inundated with many email messages from Go Buses about travel to states that are not even in my proximity. Quite frankly, even the subsequent emails I received after purchasing a ticket that were specific to the purchase (and there were many) were duplicative in nature, off-putting and unnecessary.
The bus ride:
whether intentional or not, the driver turned off the passengers controls of the overhead lights and ventilation. I was on a bus ride where a majority of it occurred during the evening. I also had a lot of reading and an overhead light would have been more than useful. During the first bus stop (hours after departure), I asked the driver to relinquish control of the overhead lights and ventilation to the passengers. He fiddled around with the settings on his console and was able to correct the situation after a few minutes.
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Bus from NYC to Cambridge was on time and very comfortable temperature wise. Everything was much better until the arrival at Riverside. There was a couple with a young child who to a bit longer then everyone to pack up and depart the bus. There was a secondary driver (who had driven until CT and then was replaced) who started berating the family for being slow and was very aggressive. The poor family was very apologetic and was moving as fast as they could with a small child but the previous driver continued to verbally assault them stating that he wanted to go home. It was extremely disappointing after a fairly pleasant ride.
Also a minor thing is that the drivers don't assist with luggage or communicate anything with the passengers. They do stop along the ride sometimes to use the restroom and sometimes to change drivers which are totally legitimate but it would be nice if they told the passengers why they were stopping.
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Other than that my son says it is great.