The Ride

I heard of this bus tour since I just arrived in city. Checked online about it and seems ppl all enjoyed it. So finally We did this tour via groupon. It’s much better deal to do with it.
It was a cold weather, we got there on time but the bus was really long time delayed. I understand there’s always traffic in the city, but since the bus arrived, we all people still had to wait outside for about 30 mins till they open the door n let us in. I wish they could be more considerable.
The tour last about one hour around up and mid town. Our guide is really funny and told us a lot story about this city, the buildings, history behind of them etc. it’s really a unique bus tour, had a lot of fun.

If you’re looking for a simple tour of the city, but want to experience it in a very different way, try The Ride. We grabbed a Living Social coupon and booked the holiday version of The Ride for a great price! Be sure to email them in advance with your date selections to make sure it works for you.
The hosts of the tour are both entertaining in their own right, but so is the voice of The Ride. The bus itself is truly unconventional in how it parlays a theater-​like event and takes it to the streets. The bus even mimicked the feel and sounds of a subway! It’s probably hard to envision, but if you’ve been on the subway you know what to expect, and for about 2 minutes they were able to create a subway feel with authentic bumps, jerks, and sounds that truly felt like we were on a train.
During our tour, unsuspecting revelers were taken back when we started singing and dancing in the open windows (one side is completely wide open) and street performers in disguise joined in with their own «schtick». It was a lot of fun and a very different kind of tour that included fun facts about NYC as well as performers that really had a good time.
The only thing I wished we’d experienced, and the loss of a star, is MORE of NYC. This tour lasted about 75 minutes, but we largely just drove down the same street more than once. We didn’t see as much of Midtown as I expected.
TIP: There really is no bad seat whether you’re in the bottom, middle, or upper row.

I love The Ride and this was my third time bringing someone to experience it and my second time seeing the holiday version. After seeing it that many times, I can honestly say it was just as much fun as the first time. Julie and Stuart were excellent and really clicked together. You could see they got along well. They both interacted with the passengers and were hilarious. It’s all about having fun and the jokes and sarcasm were very funny. Even so, you can really learn some interesting facts about NYC. Each time I go on, they throw in some new facts. I guess it depends on the hosts. It’s expensive but I think it’s well worth it. Tipped $ 20.00 because they work so hard to make you laugh and I laughed a lot!

They refused our explorer passes when trying to get tickets, they said they were sold out the whole day. They were not sold out online when I checked and I told them I could buy tickets still online.
They still refused to take our passes. Waste of time.

Fun fun fun! Got the cheap tix from Livingsocial (always wait for a promo code to buy). We got to ride around Times SQ for 75mins and saw at least 5 street performers. The cool facts about this experience are learning about famous buildings in NYC and the feeling of riding the subway in the bus simulation. The guides were awesome and funny too! My mom and hubby had a blast experiencing New York from a different angle.

Don’t take this too seriously, and you’ll have a great time. Come in here understanding this is supposed to be a relaxed and funny experience. The hosts do an amazing job of energizing everyone on The Ride.
We had a deal to The Ride, and it made it a price-​worthy attraction. If I had to pay the full $ 74 price, I don’t think it would have been worth the money.
On The Ride, everyone is facing the left side of the bus, and it makes for an interesting experience. The interaction with the usual New Yorkers make for a unique experience!

This 1& ½ hr bus ride around the Times Square area is hosted by two tour guides that alway have the same names. I been on this several times. The give you a great description of area history with a lot of humor mixed in. Street performers mix in to the tour. It’s funny to see a break dancing delivery person being ignored by people walking on the streets. Tons of fun. Look for discount tickets. B

I’m not sure about being made to sit in assigned areas but upon my arrival I was able to sit in the front row since I was closer to the front of the line.
I really enjoyed the two way mirror. You could see out as clear as everyone else is able to look in. It wasn’t as weird as you would think waving at a stranger and them happily waving back.
I liked the tour, including some not to mention moments I won’t spoil, and it was very knowledgeable about the history of the city.
It’s a great group activity but you can go alone and still have fun. I highly recommend it.

Did this tour with my 9 year old daughter while on vacation. We had NY passes so this was included.
I will say that this was very entertaining, a lot better than I thought it would be. The tour was pretty informative, the hosts were funny and captivating. The street performances were very cool. We really enjoyed The Ride.
With all that being said, I probably wouldn’t pay the $ 74 retail if we did not have the pass. Perhaps I would consider it at half the price. Also, I saw it mentioned several other times on Unilocal,that it must be tough for them to keep a schedule. We had a 2:00 tour that was 45 minutes late or so. Wasn’t too big of a deal for us, but if you have a schedule, be wary.

Super solid tourist attraction I highly recommend. Our hosts onboard were Scott and Jackie. My autistic nephew had a blast and they, and the street performers, treated him so nicely. I was impressed with the hosts’ knowledge of NYC history too, and I’m pretty fussy about that. I would make this a part of any visitor’s experience of NYC as a tourist. The bus is showing few if any signs of age but I did notice some of the LED bulb panels were blown out. But overall, it was charming.

Lost a star for the 4p ride being so late (due to NYC traffic) that I missed an appointment I had downtown at 6:30p tonight. The ride is supposed to take 60 – 75 minutes so I should’ve had plenty of time.
Aside from that, and the volume being a touch too high when they played music, it was a pretty fun tour. I joined friends who were visiting from out of the country and had extra NY Passes (from their friends who already flew back home) and wow, I would not pay $ 74 (retail value) for that ride. *I’ve seen deals on Groupon/​LivingSocial.*
Anyway, here were the highlights for me:
_​The Ride SONG (freestyle rapped?),
_​the STREET PERFORMERS who interacted with us from the sidewalk along the route we drove on (dancers & musicians),
_​friendly, chatty, comedic TOUR GUIDES who kept us entertained telling us about landmarks and keeping the energy up,
_​KARAOKE,
and most of all, WAVING to people outside which immediately brought smiles to those who waved [back].
Not sure I’d recommend it since you have to wait in line @8a the day of to buy tickets, then wait some more just to board the bus especially if it’s an hour late = too much waiting. Could use some improvements in that area but otherwise it’s fun if you get into it.

we recomended some friends who came from Mexico took this bus, but they’ve bought the NY PASS and they were told that they were not allowed to take the bus because their places were full.
Its a shame to do this, i will never recommend this to any one else.

So being local we did this just for fun… We got there at 340 on our Sunday 4pm tour to secure a front row seat. We waited in line and were filed to the back of the bus. We explained to the girl from The Ride that we came early to sit in the front. She rudely told us no and to sit down. This tour is about an hour long and $ 70.She was very rude and would discourage me from telling other people about the tour. Luckily she didn’t give the tour… Two hilarious men did. They were lively and interacted with the group the whole time. The street performers were hilarious. I’d recommend it if you’re looking for a short comedy show, but not a tour. Use Groupon to buy your ticket

Part of our New York Pass tickets we lucked out to actually be up early enough to walk by the ticket booth at opening. New York pass holders can’t actually reserve seats until the same day.
The process once the door opened was painless. Just a quick decision on the ride time and boom. Tickets in hand. I don’t know how the purchase works differently.
I totally expected a lame tour with bad jokes and lots boring facts. Well there were lots of groaner jokes and the facts were not that boring but they were presented in an interesting way.
I hesitate to really tell you how it went down because that will spoil the experience. Suffice it to say it was worth doing. Not sure if it’s a «full price» worth it. But it was pretty darn entertaining.
So just go and enjoy yourself…
And don’t forget to tip your tour guides.

I would agree that this is a good tour for first-​time visitors. You do not venture very far, it’s all near the Time Square starting point but as first timers we actually did see a few things we would not have seen otherwise like the NYE ball and Bryant Park. My favorite performer was the ballerina in Columbus Circle — stunning and magical.
My biggest complaint is how strict they are about the Groupon print outs. Granted, I knew they wanted them and I had printed them out, put them in an envelope, and told my husband that he must keep the envelope on him for the whole trip. He didn’t… When we got there they would not give us our tickets nor did they have a suggestion on a way for us to print them nearby so we had to ride all the way back to the East Village where we were staying and back to Time Square again. It was a long trip and an unintended expense.
Other than that it was fun to get off our feet for a bit and the concept of the tour is great.

For better or worse this is not worth the full price of a regular ticket ($ 64 to $ 74) and the major saving grace of this tour were the upbeat, entertaining hosts who had to keep a high level of audience energy for the duration of the ride (even while our attentions wandered). I tipped the hosts around 11 bucks each (all I had on me) and based on the look of shock I received, please give them a tip if you are able.
I was able to obtain a complimentary ticket for this but in case your curiosity abounds discounted tickets $ 20 to $ 30 below price are here:
. The actual ride clocked in at around an hour and 15 minutes and there was no bathroom on the bus.
The bus itself has three rows set up like a movie theater facing the left side of the bus such that you are a bit above eye level of most of the surrounding store fronts, businesses and attractions. Ostensibly, the tour is supposed to give you a bird’s eye view of several NYC attractions but primarily gives you repeated views of the six or so Duane Reades in the ten or so blocks beyond the Times Square/​Port Authority area.
If you are a tourist, this is a cursory look of a handful of the sites you will likely wish to see regardless, so I would suggest that you do them on foot, weather permitting. The one bright spot of the stare-​a-​thon at the streets were the actors, musicians, ballet dancers and singers incorporated into the tour. The weaving of those performances into the show was a surprising revelation that was wonderfully executed despite the rain and cold temperature (as those performers had to follow the bus as it maneuvered in and out of traffic).
Again, not worth the price of a regular ticket but if you are a tourist and you are adamant about taking The Ride, see paragraph two above.
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This attraction was cheesier than your average fondue but it would be a lie saying I didn’t LOLed. Haha. I am a New Yorker and first of all, coming to Times Square was near a live nightmare but we had some sort of comp tickets so we had to try it. As a touristic attraction, it sucks, you don’t really see anything New York but the nightmarish Times Square and its surroundings. However, these two in the bus are a comedy show, they are cheesy and hilarious and on the fly really really awesome. Stewart and Julie I think? So funny. I also loved the staged street performances, I though that was really really cool. From the rap to the ballet to the Christmas singing.
So yeah, overall, tourist attraction not so much, comedy show, totally cool and fun.

Semi torn on my review here, because I feel I got my moneys worth (granted it was a $ 5 dollar ticket when it should be $ 75) but I think I have to rate it on the regular price, and while I enjoyed it at times, other parts were just plain campy.
The bus itself is quite the sight, aas you sit facing out and see random new yorkers and sights around timesquare until central Park. You have two hosts bantering back and forth with some fun humor, and then some performers such as a dancing street sweeper and a ballerina by colombus circle. The highlight was the improv rapper by 8^th avenue, that guy was good! I had a fun time I would say but you dont learn all that much about NYC. A good diversion for someones first time in NYC and only at groupon cost. I give props to the two hosts for having such enthusiasm.

What happens when you combine actors with the enthusiasm of Richard Simmons with a tour bus… you get the ride. On a relative whim, myself and a group of friends booked this at a very, very cheap rate off of a website. I’m not sure why, but it was oddly entertaining.
As the other reviews state, essentially you’re sitting theater style on a large bus, driving around the mid-​town Manhattan area, but as far north as Columbus Circle. The 2 hosts will banter back and forth throughout and occasionally interact with the audience and ask trivia questions. Then at random intervals you’ll drive past what looks like a regular New Yorker but is actually an actor, who will spring up and dance or sing. The funniest part of the whole thing is watching average New Yorkers obliviously stroll by while a street sweeper starts tap dancing. Or better yet, watching a breakdancer almost nail a passer-​byer in the face with his sneaker on a handstand. Nothing phases New Yorkers. But I digress.
I don’t recommend «the ride» for anyone who has lived in New York for a while. But if you have family or friends visiting from out of town who have minimal knowledge of the city, it might be worth it if you can tolerate really cheesy humor for 75 minutes and can find a discount somewhere. No way this is worth the book rate of $ 75.00

I was expecting more of a complete tour of Manhattan. For the full price of the ticket, I would expect to see many more major attractions of NYC. Unfortunately you will only see a few attractions that surround the 42^nd street area. The Ride returns to 42^nd Street and 8^th Avenue THREE times, which I felt was repetitive. You start at 42^nd street and 8^th Avenue, circle around going east to Grand Central and then back to 42^nd Street and 8^th Avenue, north on 8^th Avenue to Columbus Circle and then back to 42^nd street and 8^th Avenue. It’s just big circles going nowhere.
The bus itself was cool. You sit sideways facing the window, which is good for sightseeing. If only they drove us to different NYC sights! You’re inside the bus so weather like rain or the hot sun is not a problem.
If you are a tourist and expect to see more of Manhattan, this is not a tour bus… not sure what was the point of The Ride.