Eastshore Charter Lines

We’ve been using this bus company for several years for work events. Service and buses have always just met our needs, but nothing more. Pros: prices are reasonable, they respond to email quickly. Cons: buses are outdated, they over promise and under deliver, drivers are disrespectful.
However, after our most recent experience with Eastshore Charter we will not be returning customers. We rented two 50-​person buses to transport groups to wine country. One bus driver refused to open the doors to his bus because he had «games to watch» that afternoon and would only board passengers once the other bus filled up. Mind you, we had already committed to payment for both buses! The other bus driver helped himself to the catered lunch boxes for our group, taking not just one but four lunches! Upon being questioned about his actions, he insisted that he was owed a lunch because there was nowhere in Napa for him to stop and pick up lunch. So many things wrong with this situation. Then once in Napa, he would not let a passenger back on the bus to get a jacket because he said he was on break. He also refused to go 0.5 miles off course to the ATM at a gas station (needed cash to tip the servers at the winery), insisting that we pay him the additional gas money.
I brought this terrible customer service issue to the attention of management (*coincidentally*, the name of the only positive reviewer here seems to match that of my contact at the bus company). While I appreciate that they actually took the time to respond, not only was there no offer to «make good» on the $ 1,100 we shelled out for the bus we didn’t use because the driver kept his doors closed, or the $ 80 in lunches that their driver ate, but it was implied that this was all one big misunderstanding because their drivers had logical explanations for it all. Seriously? Your drivers are lying and you’re only shooting yourself in the foot by continuing to let them service your customers.
Even if I can’t get any money back for this experience, I urge you not to use this bus company. The prices may be sub-​market rate, but so is the service and the overall experience.

Sadly, I am not at all surprised by Carla’s comment above. We have used this company for the past few years to transport teenagers to and from our retreat facilities, last year (February 2012) we had an issue with a driver that caused panic and we actually had to call the CHP. The driver apparently had an issue with the bus that would not allow him to go over 15 miles per hour. This driver apparently thought it would then be a good idea to get onto Highway 1, while maintaining a maximum speed of 15 MPH and attempt to drive on the «shoulder» AKA ditch. The adult chaperones on the bus repeatedly asked him to pull over as they did not feel his driving was safe however he refused which resulted in the police being called. Once the officer showed up he was able to get the driver to pull off of the freeway. With a call to the company (and 2 and a half hours later) a new bus, and driver, were dispatched to our location.
With SEVERAL phone calls to the company we were offered a credit towards our next charter with the agreement that the bus driver (mentioned above) was NEVER to drive for us again. We were guaranteed several times that it was noted on our file and that he would not be our driver in the future.
Now it is 2013 and we call to schedule the bus, we make note that we will not be sent the driver from the previous year and away we go, but this time to the Santa Cruz Mountains. Sunday comes, the day we are leaving camp, and the bus pulls in with the same driver we were guaranteed we would not see… apparently notes in their «system» mean nothing, neither does their word. At this point we do not have another way to get our teens back home so we have a car follow the bus to ensure there are no issues. The bus driver was splitting lanes on the windy road down the mountains, as well as he was eating, driving with his knee and reaching speeds of 80 mph going over the San Mateo bridge to 880 and then to 580. I was driving a car that left before the bus; the bus not only beat me to our location but also unloaded the teens, their luggage and was out of sight before I pulled into the parking lot.
I do a lot of volunteer work with teenagers and their safety is always my main concern. When we called to complain to the owner his response was «Well there wasn’t an accident was there?» Appalling!
My advice, do not use this company! They employ drivers who seem to have no regard for the passengers they are transporting and the owner cares even less.

My [now] husband and I used Eastshore Charter Lines as transportation for our wedding between the hotel and the venue. We decided we needed transportation because the venue is up in the Berkeley hills and very difficult to get to, even with a GPS, and even more difficult to leave when it’s pitch black.
We selected Eastshore Charter Lines as our transportation vendor because we had pretty good communications with the sales reprehensive. She was responsive with emails and phones. I was worried about the venue was hard to find, and had conversation with the rep over the phone requesting a driver that knows how to get there. She replied that most of their drivers have been to our wedding venues.
Everything was good until our wedding day. The driver that Eastshore Charter Lines sent not only hadn’t been there before but also had no idea how to get there nor did he have a GPS to navigate him there (If Eastshore had not over promised us that every driver knows how to get to our venue, I would have printed out maps with detailed instructions). Half of our wedding guests were on that bus. Eventually they sent a second driver that did know how to get there Later on a second bus came, so everyone switched to another bus. However, the damage had already been done. The bus was more than 30 minutes late than the scheduled time. We were waiting at the venue, worried obviously. When everyone got the venue, the day started to get dark and cold. We basically missed the good time for the ceremony pictures, and my bridesmaids were shaking in the cold wind.
We would never use their service again, and would not recommend them to anyone who wants their events run smoothly.
P. S. this company does not run a website, does not take credit cards, and their representatives were using yahoo email account instead of a company accounts.

Great comany! We used them for our senior grad nite and had 10 buses take us to our event. They were on time, the drivers were helpful with loading all the kids, and even had their own bus coordinator there with them! would definately recommend this comany!