BoltBus

Took Bolt over Megabus because I was interested in taking a trip to NYC to DC and using wifi on the way to get some work done. Unfortunately there was no wifi on the entire trip, no mention of it by our driver and if the outlets provided were in fact there, they were harder to find than a raisin dropped into an Olympic swimming pool.
I wrote the company to complain and was informed that they have a disclaimer on their site that wifi doesn’t always work and that they wouldn’t refund my money. I then replied that what they were doing was dishonest and they didn’t reply. I would recommend Vamoose or Megabus instead, as I’ve never had problems with the wifi.
I’m giving them two stars here although they only deserve one because they got me from point A to point B although it took longer than promised because the driver took a 20 minute rest stop which was also unannounced. This company has worse communication skills than 22-​year-​old girls who I have dated and none of the perks.

Choice this busline cause reviewers said they offered wifi. Second time I have ridden and both times their wifi is «down». I had to do work on on my laptop.
They do have a clean bus, easy to get on in DC, outlets at your seat and one bathroom on board.
Wish they would update their website and say «no wifi on most buses».
June 5 update– On the bus for the 6^th and once again they have NO wifi. Coincidental? Or do they just don’t offer wifi? Just tell us u don’t have wifi.

I had a good experience with Bolt Bus. A few things to remember:
+ Make sure you get there EARLY because this is one bus company that definitely leaves on time. They will leave you if you are not on time… There was literally a guy banging on the door 2 mins after and the bus driver almost didn’t let him in… so get there early! It’s better for everyone involved.
+ Cheap prices — buy them early to get the cheaper ones. or the off times for best pricing.
+ Standby — nice and easy process. I was able to do standby because I wanted another time than what I paid for. Just beware though because capacity is 50 and the popular times will be full.
+ Wifi — took a star off because I could never get Wifi to work… Maybe it was just me.
+ Enroll in the rewards program. You get «A» which is Priority Seating (worth it if you want window or to sit by yourself) and you get a free roundtrip with enough purchases.
Overall, definitely recommend it. I’ve always use this between DC and NYC and never had an issue.

I would give 0 stars if I could. Currently sitting in BoltBus at a random truck stop in New Jersey, without AC… And it’s 95 degrees outside. We drove for three hours with no AC in the back of the bus, but as soon as the AC went out in the front the driver decided she «couldn’t handle it.» We are waiting for another bus to come all the way from New York to pick us up. All because BoltBus didn’t put enough freon (spelling?) before we left. Literally melting. It’s unhealthy. The best part? We can’t get any money back ($ 39! Almost a train ticket) because BoltBus «doesn’t issue refunds.» Will be filing a complaint with DOT.
Also, the bus driver left our last rest stop knowingly leaving a passenger behind who «took too long.»

Ride this bus every weekend. It’s consistent but the quality has definitely gone down hill since I started riding about 6 years ago. The WiFi and Power Outlets don’t work at least 3 – 4 times a month, and the customer service is sub-​par compared to Best Bus and Vamoose.

It got the job done. The bus was grimier than I expected — Kleenex between the seats and window; dark gunk around the wall. The bathroom didn’t smell bad, but the hand sanitizer was broken. I really dreaded touching that door handle.
On the other hand, the driver was friendly and safe. Bus was on-​time. The seat was pretty comfortable. I might try a different bus line next time though… I just expected the bus to be cleaner inside.

Let’s see — it nearing midnight, and the bus that was supposed to get me home by 11:15 is now 45 minutes late and we are nowhere near DC yet. Not because of traffic but due to unscheduled stops. The service for these NYC — DC buses keeps going downhill. The Wifi barely works. The outlets are a toss-​up. And yes, the delays. Hoping some entrepreneurs out there start higher quality competition to Bolt and MegaBus and the like — it will be greatly appreciated!

I have been a loyal Boltbus customer for years. I still enjoy it and am glad they’re around. 4 out of the last 4 rides had no wi-​fi, and on 2 of the 4 the power didn’t work. They should refocus on delivering on the promise (outside of the fine print on the website) made on the side of the bus via the plug image and «wi-​fi» logo. It might as well say «free cheeseburgers.»
*changing this review from 3 stars to two, as the two times I’ve called the company about this issue the response hasn’t been «we’re working on it,» but rather «you can see on the website it says we make no promises…» When you choose Boltbus because you need to use the power outlets and wifi to do work and then are unable to it’s a problem.

Choice this busline cause reviewers said they offered wifi. Second time I have ridden and both times their wifi is «down». I had to do work on on my laptop.
They do have a clean bus, easy to get on in DC, outlets at your seat and one bathroom on board.
Wish they would update their website and say «no wifi on most buses».

Caught the Bolt from NYC to Washington yesterday. The internet did not work and the bus was uncomfortably hot. Requests to reset Internet and turn down the heater were ignored.

This was our first trip from DC to NYC on Bolt Bus and were pretty excited b/​c of all of the great reviews. Certainly the price is great. The bus left on time. Awesome. However, I almost couldn’t believe how the driver was speaking to some of the passengers. A lady was complaining while we were leaving DC about her seat being broken. The driver pulled the bus over, stormed back to her and lit her up about finding another seat. He then got back in his seat and took off while getting on the loudspeaker and totally put her on blast. What? Who does that? Like, you already told her to find another seat and using the microphone on the bus was just your way of being a bozo.
Anyone talking about the decent leg room must be on another bus. The foot rest eliminates any extra room for your legs. The seats were very uncomfortable which was a surprise b/​c everyone said how comfy the seats were. The power for my phone was on and off and we couldn’t connect to the wifi. Big deal? Not really but when Bolt Bus uses those things as selling points, they need to work.
We get to the rest stop in Delaware and the drive said we have 15 minutes. Understood. 15 minutes is up and we start to leave. Some dude comes running out and gets on the bus. Once again, the driver lit him up and then got on the loud speaker «folks, when i make an announcement, you have to take those ear buds out of your ears and listen to me…» Dude, drive the bus and stop reprimanding your customers who pay your salary. He was a complete bozo with the way he treated people riding his bus.
I will say, we arrived on time. That is great for sure but at the expense of all of the other things? Not sure.
Customer service is KING. You can almost be late, have seats that are tough to sit in, etc but if you have great customer service, all will be great in the end.

Took this to NYC for a day trip and thought it was great. We left from Union Station on time (7:30) and got to NYC at about 11:45. The dropoff and pickup in NYC was by the Convention Center on 11^th Ave, which is a little out of the way if you’re a walker like I am, but there is a subway station right there to quickly take you to wherever you want to go.
The bus was clean, had good legroom (better than a charter bus I took recently), and the outlets did work but were a little fussy. On the first bus only one of the two plugs worked. The drivers were both very polite and drove safely, I never felt like I was going to be on one of those bus crash stories on the news where it careens off a bridge in flames. I didn’t use the bathroom either time but the bus didn’t smell like a port-​o-​pot so to me that means it was great.
My only other tip is to definitely sign up for the rewards to get the A boarding.

Good service for the price. No frills but you get the service, the wifi and the seats are pretty comfy. Run mostly on time in my experience. For $ 20 or less from city to city that isn’t bad!

I’m a fan of Bolt Bus and have ridden them before. However, my most recent trip was disappointing. The wifi was very intermittent and I was never able to use the network, neither of the two outlets at my seat worked, and my seat recline was broken so any time I put pressure on my back at all the seat fully reclined. I understand things aren’t perfect all the time, but when you brand a bus line and market it based on having wifi and electrical outlets, it’s very disappointing when those two key features don’t work. I would have used a different bus line of I knew I couldn’t depend on at least the electrical outlets, and I will likely consider other options next time.

Yep, a year later and as someone who travels from DC to NYC at least once a month, I’m here to confirm that BoltBus is better than Megabus. The seats are more comfortable, and more often than not BoltBus is not sold out so you can get a seat to yourself (at least on the early morning buses). Bolt is a little pricier than Mega, but I think the price difference is worth it.

Took a trip last weekend. Left on-​time from Greenbelt and arrived in NYC almost a half hour early!
Then, my ride home on Sunday left right on time, and we also got home about 15 minutes ahead of schedule.
My driver yelled at a passenger who had the audacity to smoke cigarettes on the bus. I’m surprised the driver didn’t kick him off, but was impressed he kept the situation under control.
Drivers are professional and friendly. I like your system of having the manifest on your phone for added identity protection. Love the outlets and extra leg room. For a person who hates taking the Metro in Union Station, a Greenbelt pick-​up with easy parking is the best choice.

Not bad. I have been waiting to write this review because I did not want to rate the bolt bus after one single ride.
I took multiple trips between DC and NYC. They always stay relatively on schedule. However, on a recent trip when I was scheduled to leave on a Sunday at 10:30am (from NYC), the bus was nowhere to be found other than a Baltimore bus leaving a little after us. They got another bus here by 10:25am and we left a little before 10:40am and arrived at 2:55pm at Union Station. We were scheduled to arrive at 2:45pm. We took a 15 minute bathroom break at Delaware Welcome Center.
On another Friday, we left at 6:30pm and were supposed to arrive by 11pm, we arrived at midtown NYC at 11:10pm with a 15 minute rest stop break in Delaware. And we were all put on a Yankee bus with no electric outlet and very tight overhead space. We stopped at 33^rd first. I know in a previous trip that I took, we would stop at the downtown Soho location first to let off the passengers. But we didn’t this time around and they made the midtown stop first.
Note for DC-​bound travelers: once you arrive at Union Station, walk towards the main waiting area (for Amtrak people), take the escalator down and turn right to catch your subway ride if you are taking public transportation. For people leaving DC, when you exit from subway at Union Station, walk towards the sign of «amtrak» (not «buses») and take the immediate right when you take the escalator up where it then says buses. Follow the escalator up to the parking lot and you will see signs for bolt bus.
I remember there was once or twice where we were all just let on the bus without displaying our tickets. That was a little concerning but fortunately it was still a smooth ride.

Another bad experience so I had to leave a review. I had a 9:45 departure from Greenbelt. I got there 30 mins early since they insist passengers get there at least 15 mins early. The bus was nowhere in sight by 9:45 so I called the office to find out that the bus was «30 Mins» behind due to traffic. The bus was not there at 10:15 so I left and canceled the trip. 1. It’s metro DC area. It shouldn’t be a surprise there is traffic! There were no major extraordinary incidents on the road. 2. No proactive notification for the delay of the bus. No emails or texts! 3. No refund was offered. They don’t refund due to traffic delays. It was really 45 mins delay since it was suppose to be there 9:30am! They have no problems wasting everyone else’s valuable time!
In the past ride, the wifi barely works. This is the last straw. No more Boltbus for me.

Lets look at this by the numbers, assuming you are traveling from NY to DC for three days and putting into these numbers is the cost by local subway to get to the bus/​airport/​train:
Flight: $ 310
Train: $ 230
Drive: $ 175 (gas, insurance, effort of driving, tolls + $ 40 a day parking)
Bolt Bus: $ 84
So Bolt Bus is the hands down favorite on cost – the bus option takes about 4.5 hrs one way – all others are the same, train is sometimes longer due to multiple stops, and a flight is quicker as the crow flies but travel to the airport, security, time on tarmacs makes it about even, I have to be honest I expected the worst for the bus trip but I was delightfully surprised. When you get your ticket you will note an A-​B or C designation, this is not a seating assignment rather the order that you are called onto the bus – A’s first, etc. The buses are owned by Gray Hound and they are semi comfortable leather seats – expect them to be a little shabby – you get a power plug fro your device and some spotty wifi – AC works well, they make one stop along the way for a drink/​potty break (although there are onboard bathrooms). I think its the best option for this route and I will be using Bolt Bus again.

Took a trip from DC to NY via bolt bus! It was the cheapest and I liked the times available!
My bus was due to leave at 3:30, the bus was already at station when I got in line at 2:45! We left at 3:40′ Awesome!
The driver Onell (hope I’m spelling right) was awesome! He drove safe & was very friendly and helpful!
The bus was clean! The first seats on each side didn’t have outlets! The rest did & they worked! It’s 2 outlets so that’s cool!
The wifi didn’t work! & every other chair had a arm rest!
We got to stop also!
I will consider them for my next trip!

This was my first experience with bolt bus. We booked last minute but still found ticket availability at reasonable prices. We booked to New York and left the day before Memorial Day. We went to union station that morning. Stood in line and the bus arrived on time.
TOWARDS NEW YORK:
Driver was Ray or Roy. He was very professional and serious. We sat down in the front row and realized we had no outlet to plug our items in which was fine for that day. We had a ten to fifteen minute rest stop about half way thru the trip.
The internet did not work at all and everything took forever to load so I just gave up on the Internet.
We were dropped off near the high line on 33^rd in New York. It’s walking distance to a lot of things.
RETURNING FROM NEW YORK, going to DC:
We sat down towards the middle and again our luck was crap because we had no outlet (weird). The bus was very very hot. We told our driver and he said he had the vents open because the bathroom would stink up everything. The heat never improved even after we asked him to cool it down. He was very nice and social and liked trivia and even gave out a prize for whoever guessed the right answer to his trivia questions.
The Internet again was horrible and wouldn’t even connect to my iPad.
We also took a ten minute break at a rest stop.
In summary,
PROs:
1. Relatively cheap ($ 56 for two people leaving Sunday and $ 52 for two people leaving Tuesday afternoon)
2. On time
3. Convenient pick up and drop off locations
CONs:
1. Hot and stinky at times (depending on where you sit)
2. The Internet was horrible and we didn’t even get to use it because it wouldn’t let us connect
3. Limited outlets depending on where you sit
I don’t think I would take this bus again. I might try train or fly. We shall see. But I am glad I had the experience.

NEGATIVES: it’s 80 degrees on the bus on the hottest day of the year so far. On bus from DC to NYC: light is not working in bathroom. Passenger Seats wobble — as If they’re not properly installed. Floor is dirty. Duct tape fixes on soap dispenser. PA system doesn’t work so driver had to yell — half the bus couldn’t hear him. AC not working properly. Half the electrical outlets in the seats aren’t working. No one helps you with your bags. No tray on back of seat for laptop. No mesh or magazine pocket. Driver pulled off to side of road dangerously to stop and open the top vents on the bus when I asked him to turn up the AC. I had this experience ten years ago on the old Chinatown busses. I expected a lot more. Never again.
POSITIVES: left on time. Decent leg room. Driver is nice and ride is comfortable and smooth. Drink holders. Bus not crowded on Saturday afternoon so lots of space to spread out.

I pretty much end up sleeping the entire way. Oh yeah I may talk a big game, even bring a gang of gadgets and unassessed essays to keep me busy. But by the time we hit the highway it’s usually «go go gadget nap.» This is the usual luxury of the Boltbus experience, so I make sure that I’m early enough to sit on my nap-​lean side. Don’t want to be That Guy who keeps tilting over to drool down your shirt. So being a veteran B-​buser, I make sure to get a seat on the right side of the bus.
Another thing to consider it the use of an extension cord. On this last trip I had forgotten mine at home, so after teaching I made sure to stop by Radio Shack to get one for the bus. Sometimes, not often, outlets are in weird spots like overhead. Most devices these days have these 3000 pound plugs the size of your fist. And you spend the whole trip continually reconciling the separation. An extension cord not only allows you to position your plug wherever you want, but you can plug in more than one device and not hog the main outlet. Big Bird would be proud.
I had my complaints about Boltbus until I tried Megabus. Yes Megabus is more spacious. You can actually get up and stretch your legs. But the operation is always a hassle with them. In Manhattan Boltbus has actual street signs at its stops. Not so the case with Megabus. And Boltbus is On Time. Three hours in a car hassled by other drivers, or four hours sleeping. I’m gonna go with the extra zzzzs.

I travel to NYC at least once a month and Bolt Bus has always been reliable to me.
They’ve always arrived to Union Station and brought me to my destination in a timely manner. Never had any problems there.
As for amenities, they have comfortable seats that recline, outlets for chargers (although I’ve been on a few buses where they were not working), Wi-​Fi (which I don’t even bother with), and a bathroom which, let’s be real, is more than likely to be disgusting. In short, you get what you pay for. Tickets are super cheap! They typically range anywhere from $ 20-​$ 60ish roundtrip depending where and when you are going as well as when you purchase the ticket.
I have been lucky enough to purchase a $ 1 ticket! Very random day & odd hour of the evening. No strategy to it.
Of course personal comfort and experience vary. My trips to NY aren’t too long and have never been terrible. I would recommend to try them at least once!
PS: They have a smartphone app & a membership rewards program! (Includes priority seating, discounts, etc.)

As far as buses go, they are pretty good. In the end it’s still a bus though and there’s only so much they can do to make it okay.
Buses are clean, the bathroom is reasonable, they are pretty good scheduling wise and the drivers are nice.
The only really negative thing to say is that the Wi-​Fi doesn’t always work.

Hey you! Yes, you. You want to travel from D.C. to NYC comfortably and quickly, take a train or a plane. You want to have shopping money for when you get to NYC and not stress about driving your own car? TAKE THE BOLT BUS.
I’ve taken another bus company and had a pretty bad experience. but with Bolt??? Everything was A-​OK. The bus was clean, on time, and there were electrical outlets!!!
Want to have first dibs on a window seat?
Make an account with them and sign in every time you purchase a ticket. You’ll get «A» seating which is convenient.
It’s not fancy and it’s not supposed to be. However, it IS efficient and inexpensive.

I was surprised by the quality of my last Bolt Bus trip because I hadn’t been on it in awhile. The bus was more or less timely and the lines were really orderly– something I definitely appreciate. The DC station is also covered in a garage so you don’t wait out in heat/​rain/​etc. I get carsick so I paid the $ 5 for reserved seating and felt like it was worth it to make sure I can sit up front. There’s not a ton of legroom but I felt like it was a decent way to travel.
PS the «wifi» isn’t very good and they block streaming websites like Netflix and such, so don’t count on that.

I have used their service from Washington, DC to NYC in the past and it was okay. My last trip makes suburbia look like a HELLISH place to live. The bus driver didn’t turn on the A/​C until ¹⁄₃ of the way into our trip after letting a non-​English speaking mother with 5 kids take the remaining seats. These kids ranged from 3 – 15 years of age I assume. The two 5-​year old boys were fighting the entire time and interrupting me and the other gentleman. The bus should have a policy on parents sitting with their kids. If airlines try separating kids and parents more terrorists will be found in everyday America.
The bathroom door squeezed incessantly as the bus moved. I tried everything including tearing the cover off of my magazine and sticking it in the door then playing bathroom monitor. A hot bus, fighting kids, a squeaky door — I am DONE!
It seems this bus service is cheapening its price, but lowering the quality of service to customers who recognize a fair price. I am not sure how I am getting to DC next week, but I am seriously apprehensive about riding this bus again.