The Big Bus Company

Not the best hop on hop off experience. Very slow and tour guides are difficult to understand. Don’t know if philly has better options. Good luck

Rode the Big Bus today and was not impressed. I have lived in Philly my whole life so I know when the tour guides are telling the truth and making things up. Lots of misinformation — For ex., Reading Terminal Market is NOT the oldest farmer’s market in the country, there is NO law that buildings east of City Hall can be no taller than Billy Penn’s hat atop that building, and for Pete’s sake, Thomas Eakins is pronounced AYkins not EEkins! The first guide spoke in a monotone and recited his narration by rote. No improvisation or enthusiasm. The second guide commented as we passed the Academy of Music on Broad Street how horrible and crimeridden that neighborhood was before the Bicentennial. Excuse me? I lived in that area in the 1970’s and it was just fine, thank you. I have taken the Big Bus in other cities and enjoyed the tours. But they need better tour guides in Philadelphia!

My company and I enjoyed the tour even though the weather was not the best. The tour guides were entertaining, animated and very knowledgeable. We also enjoyed the hop on/​off feature of the tour which allowed us to get on and off of any attraction site in philadelphia.

Very good tour. The guide — Steve was knowledgeable and with a great sense of humor. We have learned a lot.

We used the Big Bus for an event.
The Good:
We had a private tour and were able to bring a cooler on the bus with snacks and adult beverages.
The Bad:
Had confirmed the morning of to pay remaining balance and reconfirm the itinerary, the construction and road closures were never disclosed. They informed me 2 days later they get the reports every morning, but they never adjusted our ride and we were stuck in endless traffic.
When planning this the company should have recommended not organizing this at that certain time.
The trolley which fit 35 had AC but with temps close to 90 that day and full of people it did not function well at all.
Our trolley was in an accident towards the end of the night. They never offered another trolley to pick us up even though we had more than an hour left of our charter time.
After the accident they asked us to fill out a form describing the accident and in fine print it states you are releasing them from liability and that you are not hurt.
When I called with my concerns mainly about the road closures not being taken into consideration and the fact that we were abandoned after the accident and had to get our own rides back to our hotels, the customer service was horrendous!!! The «director» was rude and threatening on the phone, argumentative and basically the worse.
The Ugly:
This last point gets me the most, eventually the «director» who changed his name sent me a form to sign stating that he would give me a $ 100 credit for a future chartered tour and the form he wanted me to sign stated that I would not be able to sue him for any injury resulting from the accident, which there were none, he was just covering his bases, and that I would be liable if I posted any of the situation on social media.

We did the Philly by Night tour and I highly recommend it! Totally worth the money! Our tour guides name was Bill and he was excellent! It’s a great way to see the city, it’s landmarks, and more! They let you take a few minutes to get off the bus at the rocky statue and the gazebo in back of the museum. Really really cool, I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Note: The tickets say to meet at the Convention Center on 12^th street. That is incorrect! The bus meets and departs from 12^th and Filbert, right outside Reading Terminal Market and the Downtown Marriot.
Enjoy!

Take over 30 minutes to be picked up again. Was told 15 – 20 minutes at the most. Our first guide was good, others so, so. This is our third bus tour of Philly w/​guest. Probably won’t use Big Bus, the others are more efficient.

The tour guides are good, but the schedule they run on is all messed up. The construction in the city made it hectic. The bus does not stop at all the locations which makes it frustrating for people who want to hop back on. They need to run more vehicles. We would stop at places and the bus would have to leave people behind because it was full. Umm in 90+ degree weather and irregular wait times, it makes it quite frustrating. Also on the first bus we had AC and then on the second bus (during peak temps) they decided not to turn on the AC with a FULL bus. It was like a sweaty oven inside.

Took the bug bus tour two years ago and it was great… This year, not so much… Not enough room on the busses and took much longer than the 25 minutes to get picked up at the drop off spots. On another of their busses no room on top so had to sit on bottom where views are blocked by the multi circle window covering and to top it all off… No air conditioning on a 95 degree day… Think we will try the other tour company next time… Their busses seemed to have much more room on them.

I am giving this a five start rating for Ginger and LaMonica. Without them my score would have been a three.
We bought our tickets at the independence visitors center and started at stop one. Ginger was theatrical, well spoken, interesting and informative. La Monica did an amazing job of navigating the streets well without making us feel like we were on a wild ride.
Sadly, we didnt get to finish the tour with them though. There was technical issues with the microphone. Ginger though handled it in stride and the show must go on. Thankfully we were on top where she was so we could still hear her as she used her loudest stage voice to continue with the tour until we got to a stop where someone from the company tried to fix the microphone. He was unable to do so, so they put us on the next tour bus that came by.
We got on the bus with Isaac. He was fine. But he talked fast and had some good jokes, but was kind of monotone and threw them in so fast with his other commentary that I think some of them got missed by most. But he was very good about warning us of low branches and giving us all the information. The driver though was a bit more wild and there were times where he would stop fast and we would be jerked forward.
The tour shows a good portion of the main tourist area and there are plenty of stops to get off and explore. I wish the sound system in the first bus worked. That was disappointing and put a damper on things and then having to switch buses.
It is hot sitting out on top. Wear sunscreen and a hat and bring some water!

I loved riding on the big bus. I got the 2 day hop on hop off sightseeing tour. We got to see all of the top tourist spots in Philly, the tour guides are very knowledgable about their city. We liked hoping on and off the bus. What we didn’t like about the bus is that it has no air conditioner if you want to sit inside. The first day of our tour was hot outside we couldn’t sit below even if we wanted to since it was too hot. Sitting on top is very nice though, I would recommend wearing a hat since the sun is strong. You can take some really nice pictures up on top of the bus. Overall, I recommend taking this bus you really get a history lesson and find out a lot about all of the historical sights in Philadelphia.

Slow, expensive, and awkward — yet a nice open ride style double decker.
First, this bus is way too slow to pick people up. I was waiting at Eastern state 25 mins to go to the zoo. They get out and make conversation with every tourist it picks up, really holds up the people on the bus. –1 star
Second, expensive — with the excellent Phlash bus being only 2 bucks a ride and faster, you don’t need to pay $ 67 dollars for this bus. Actually, this also makes the Philly city pass probably a waste as well. — 1 star
Third, awkward. I went 4^th of July weekend and I guess the tour lady ran out of material to speak about since the bus had to take a detour and she was rambling about supposedly incorrect historical information theories told in history class about Philly. Further she singled out myself and my girlfriend lecturing directly to us, it was really weird. –1 star
Overall just skip this and take the Phlash instead, which is an excellent and inexpensive public tourist bus option to hit all the major sights.

What a great company! Maggie was a fantastic tour guide. I feel like we received a really awesome Philadelphia History Lesson, plus the ease of hopping off/​on the bus made it quite convenient. We rode the bus the entire way to the Museum of Art, visited the museum, and then hopped back on to go back to the starting point.

This is s great way to get around Philly! With 27 stops at all the historical places and also some of the local points of interest, the Big Bus is a big hit. Hop on, hop off? it’s your call. Take your time!

Had a great time with mark (driver) and mikal (tour guide) on the philly by night tour was a lot of fun and very informative the guide was great and had an hop off at «rocky stairs» which was cool and a great photo opportunity well worth the $ 30 per person me and my family really enjoyed it I hope if you’re reading this that you will give it a ride also recommend some good eats!

My girlfriend and I recently went to Philadelphia on a 4-​day sight-​seeing tour. We had bought the Philadelphia Pass, and since the Big Bus Company Tour is included, we decided to go on a tour. We arrived in Philly on a Friday night, so we went on the first tour the following morning. We thought it would be a great way to see the city and get a feel for our surroundings before we went sight-​seeing on our own. We had a great tour guide named Maggie who was extremely friendly and informative. The tour went from Independence Visitor Hall all the way to the Philadelphia Art Museum and back, and all the other places in between. We really enjoyed the tour. If you’re heading to Philadelphia for a sight-​seeing trip, we definitely recommend starting off with a trip on the the Big Bus Company tour.

Had no problem getting off and on as a few have complained. I was there on one of the busiest weeks too.
Only complaint is they added an unscheduled and belabored tour of the «gayborhood». It is an official stop, but not on the map. I really do not think this deserves mention among all the truly historical sites. Let’s see… Betsy Ross, Liberty Bell, art museum, and faaabulous rainbow flags. Huh? Should we stop by the sewage treatment plant while we’re at it?

We got the city pass.
Usually the bus was quite full near the end of the day. We waited for so long then the bus was so packed, we couldn’t squeeze in; we ended up walking back to our hotel: S
They should offer extra buses near the end of the day. The bus driver and the tour just looked at us then closed the door without saying anything. They should at least letting us know when is the next bus or something…
During the day, a lady bus driver was super nice and friendly (forgot her name; started with L or something). The tour guides usually very friendly and knowledgeable. But the bus itself and the frequency near the end of the day… it ruined all the good experience we had during days.
If you are planning to stay out at night and know your way or don’t mind to walk at night, then I will recommend you to go with BB.

This was a nice tour that was well presented by an energetic tour guide. I admire his work because he didn’t get/​take more than a few seconds to breathe between his well-​rehearsed tour of the city.
3.5 stars, rounded up because I appreciate the flexibility of the manager on duty who bent the rules just a bit to allow my daughter and me to complete the tour. Much appreciated.

I think this may be one of the best ways to see Philly! I got a 24 hour ticket for $ 27 adult and $ 10 child. You can get on and off the bus as much as you would like. The bus has 27 stops. It really covers all the important locations: most of the museums, cemeteries, prison, art, food, antique, Rocky steps, zoo, historical row homes, church, etc. I could go on… but I don’t know the names of all the stops. They give you a giant map… and the tour guide is a wealth of knowledge. The entire tour is narrated by a live person, and was very informative.
The bus is a double decker… so for kids this is thrilling! You even have to duck for the tree limbs. To a 10 year old… this is prime excitement!
If you stay on the bus from beginning to end it is a 90 min. ride. However, if you choose to get off at any of the stops you can look around, and get back on the next bus. Another idea is to get off on a stop… spend several hours, and take a cab back to the hotel… and pick it up later. The get on and off possibilities are endless.
I highly recommend this tour as a great way to enjoy the city… with you hair blowing in the breeze!