MVP Bus

Welcome to MVP treatment! On board, you can enjoy the height of 1960’s rural Chinese luxury – complete with a bacteria, fungus and virus buffet in the filthy bathroom! I truly love the photos of the toilet’s seat flopped down on the floor.
MVP owns and operates three buses. The buses resemble something that you’d see being used as a charter from Ramshackle Tours of Creeper’s Hole, KY. This is where I inform you that I’m relaying this horror story for my friends Yu-​Hui and Reema. Neither of them have Unilocal.One doesn’t even know what or who Unilocal is.
I have personally seen MVP buses, and they operate and appear to be the flamboyant sister of Eastern – another super luxury rural China busline only with the added ambience of live poultry on board!
MVP is almost guaranteed to depart 1 – 4 hours late, depending on any 2 or more of the following: weather, traffic congestion, MVP’s EZ-​Pass account status, the bus driver’s telephone conversations, the maintenance of the MVP fleet and of course – the number of episodes of «Zu Ge Nuyou Hui Jia Guonian» that CCTV decides to air in a row. So, basically, if your ticket says 8:00pm, be ready at 8:08pm, but think 10:42pm as a good departure time.
Once on board, there will be no air conditioning and the scent will be a toss up between body odor/​waste and bathroom chemicals. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, it will be both!
During your journey, if you forget your favorite mp3 player or perhaps yours dies, then fear not. You can listen to the endless conversations by the bus driver. He will definitely have two or more mobile devices and will charge one while talking on another. Sometimes, in moments of total luxury and skill, the driver will be talking on one and texting on another!!! You know, it’s so nice to see that humans are so well developed that such a trio is possible: Driving, texting and talking.
MVP buses and their drivers are very tempermental. Sometimes, you’ll exceed the posted speed limit by 30, for a record speed of 95mph! Other times, you’ll be clogging it up by going 45 in a 65! The MVP bus enjoys abrupt lane changes, road rumbling and MVP has so many fans on 95 that they can’t help but honk multiple times as they pass by in the left lane! Sometimes, people even make loving hand gestures out their window!
Due to the wild popularity of MVP’s luxury restroom, MVP bus makes a pitstop somewhere near Cherry Hills’s scenic water tower. The driver doesn’t bother to check if anyone is missing, he just decides to leave whenever the bus feels full.
If you dare ask the driver while the bus is in motion about the A/​C, be prepared for a Cantonese word salad of insults from Macão, Hong Kong and all of The New Territories. But in the end, you will be assured with, «Yaa, A/​C work on! You now sit down your sit.»
The trip between Cherry Hill and Elizabeth usually goes down without a hitch unless there’s a fire in the engine compartment or the bus is pulled over for going too slow or too fast. It can also get hairy if one of the exterior luggage compartment doors begins to open, forcing the driver to urgently sweep across four lanes with no signal – which also means there could be a fiery crash.
As you near Elizabeth, you notice that you’re five hours late.
The rest of the ride will be warm as MVP treats you to a complimentary steam bath. The warm air blower will go completely off and a tropical silence will befall the cabin. People will begin to sweat and remove articles of clothing only to discover that most windows are broken and cannot be opened.
As you near the Tunnel of Lincoln, the MVP bus will decide to stop operating. The bus will stop in the #3 lane and the cheering (honking) will resume. All passengers will be forced to get off the bus (yes, in all that traffic) and move to the shoulder. Lucky for everyone on board, this marks the end of the complimentary steam bath.
Luggage will be thrown to you about 45 minutes later after PANYNJ police sort the mess out.
Oh, and there was no stinking WiFi but there was loud Chinese music being played for most of the trip! It came to a sudden end when the D-​sized batteries fell out of their compartment. The battery compartment door had gone missing the day previous when MVP Bus had a crash.
Welcome to Manhattan! Thank you for choosing MVP Bus!
Take Amtrak or rely on MegaBus or BoltBus. MVP can cause suicide or PTSD.

Please DO NOT TAKE IT. My round-​trip experience included: bus breaking down (on the way over), cancelled bus (on the way back), broken seats, disgusting bathroom, not a non-​stop trip (30 min. rest stop somewhere on the way!).
From DC to NY, our bus broke down when it arrived to pick us up. We were offered our money back and told the replacement bus would arrive in less than an hour; we decided to take the replacement bus and it wound up arriving more than 2 hours later. Several seats were broken. On our way back from NY to DC, I received a text message a few hours before our departure time telling us our bus had been cancelled and we could take an earlier bus or a later bus. We chose the earlier and cancelled farewell lunch plans with friends because otherwise we would have arrived in DC too late. Please do not give this company business because they don’t deserve it! There are many others offering much better service for less than $ 5 more. We wasted so much valuable tourism time because of this company. Also, their bathroom was disgusting and the toilet seat was broken and on the floor.

If I could give this zero stars I would. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
I got the MVP bus groupon. Never again. It was awful. I had no air conditioning for the 6 hour journey, and was told it was «on» when it clearly was not. They do not make it clear that they will be driving 30 minutes off the highway to stop in Baltimore.
They say wifi may not be available on all buses, but I rode it twice and neither had wifi. (I’m fairly certain it doesn’t exist) The bus departed 2 hours late as I think they only own 2 buses, so if 1 is delayed you are screwed. The buses are old and smelly on top of the no AC.
The driver was rude and had three cell phones that he would switch between talking on without a hands-​free device for the entire trip. He would either be doing 40 mph in the right lane while talking on his phone, or 90 mph in the left lane — It was a nightmare…
Summary:
–Smelly old bus
— No Air conditioning
— Always late
— Terrible, rude drivers
— Random unannounced stop 30 minutes into Baltimore
— No wifi as advertised

So I got RT ticket from DC to NYC for only $ 20 through groupon, and I had a $ 5 credit on my account, so it was only $ 15 RT. Despite Unilocal reviews, I figured I couldn’t beat $ 15 RT transportation!
Overall, it was a perfectly fine ride. Sure, there’s no wifi so if you’re glued to your email connection, this might be problematic. Also, where they pick you up is a little fuzzy, which isn’t really a problem in Chinatown DC because it’s not too crowded, but in NYC where there are 3 buses on every street corner, it proved to be a little challenging. Just take the specific street corners they say they will be at with a grain of salt, but it will be nearby it.
Also, the tickets claim to get you there in 3 ½ or 4 hrs depending on which way you’re going. I can’t even come close to doing that in my own car that doesn’t take a half hour to refuel at a rest stop or take a pit stop in Baltimore to let people on/​off so I wasn’t banking on those arrival times. It claimed to get me into NYC at 7pm but I didn’t get in until around 9. Likewise, the return claimed to get me to Chinatown DC at 5:15 and I wasn’t in until 8pm. Not anything unusual, just traffic etc.
Overall, it’s a decent ride without the frills and also without the excessive costs. If I was pinched for a ride with little money and not on a strict time schedule, I would take MVP bus again in a heartbeat! It was clean and friendly people. (I made sure to try to avoid the very back seats in fear of stench from the bathroom as other Unilocalers complained, but I had no issues!)
PLUS, they claim they can’t change your ticket, but when I realized I could leave work early the day I was departing I called and with no issue, changed my ticket to an earlier departure, with them emailing me a new ticket almost instantly. Like I said, I’d use MVP again if I just need to get from point A to B on a budget!

Never, ever take MVP bus unless you want to sit in a cramped smelly bus. The bus I took the other week smelled like the bathroom – not a good smell at all – from the back to the front. No passenger was safe.
Take another bus.

First off let me say that my trip back down on Megabus from NY was a lot worst than MVP. However, it was not that much better. The internet did not work on the bus. The Video TV screens were not even turned on. The bus was an hour late arriving and subsequently two hours late arriving in NY. The bus a lot dirtier and cheaper than other bus lines. The whole operation seems like a mess.

I’m writing this review on the bus after holding my breath for nearly 4 hours — my girlfriend and I are sitting in row 4, yet it smells like we’ve been doused with urine. No wifi, no power outlets, our a/​c vents don’t work, and I’m not one bit surprised — after all, this bus couldn’t possibly be newer than 30 years old.
All in all, just a horrible ride. The one saving grace is that it only cost us $ 20 each, roundtrip, thanks to a groupon.

Was there Wifi on the bus like advertised– NOPE.
Did the bust leave on time — NOPE
Was the bus 1.5hrs late to NYC area (*note area)-YES
Did it break down outside of the Lincoln Tunnel, requiring everyone to off board and find another way to get into Manhattan (public transportation, cab, etc)-YES
Would I take this bus again if they offered me a free ride?- Hahahahaha. I missed my friend’s wedding because of MVP. Go with BoltBus, MegaBus or fly/​train/​drive.

I don’t have the sense of outrage that most upwardly mobile Unilocal users have and I really didn’t expect much from this shitty transportation company once I saw the offices… You’re paying for cheap service, and you will get cheap accommodations.
Nonetheless, I think MVP stays in business because it is a front for illegal human trafficking. I bet deep in the recesses of those some of those buses lies a hidden compartment brimming with Mail-​Order brides.

We just got back from a trip from Baltimore to NYC. Here are my comments:
1. I went to their website to get directions to their location. It took me to a site called
. They had a Google Maps link so you could enter your address and I entered my address. It printed directions to the WRONG LOCATION. The address is 1910 N Charles St x E North Ave and it printed directions to 1910 St. Charles Ave. I didn’t realize this until we were almost to the wrong destination. Luckily we have a GPS and left early enough to get to the right destination.
2. The location in Baltimore is not in a desirable location. I would NOT leave my car there. The office stunk and had couches with huge stains on them. We went to use the restrooms in the building and they were disgusting.
3. The buses… they are NOT new like the website says and they do NOT have movies or a wi-​fi connection. They take care of that on their website by saying something about wi-​fi not being available on «3^rd party buses». I would venture a guess that ALL of their buses are 3^rd party buses. The one from NYC to Baltimore had faded lettering of some church with praying hands on the side. The first bus was very dirty and one person in our party and a broken seat with a big metal lump in it. It also smelled like some kind of solvent or something. The second (church) bus was cleaner and had the plastic grocery bags hung on the seat handles down the aisle. It had their DOT license information handwritten on a piece of paper and taped to the window.
4. The trip… the website says that we were supposed to get into New York at 12:15 pm. The driver stopped at a rest stop on the NJ Turnpike and said we were making such good time that we were going to have a 20 minute stop. We didn’t get into New York until 1 pm. The trip on the way home (in the church bus) had a driver that didn’t know how to get to the Lincoln Tunnel (ever heard of a GPS??). Some lady on the bus was telling him where to turn. The bus also did not have an EZ Pass so he had to stop at every toll to pay cash. When we arrived back in Baltimore, the driver opened up the luggage compartment and we had to crawl underneath the bus to get our luggage while he stood and smoked a cigarette.
Luckily we did get to and from safely without breaking down or running out of gas, as some other comments mentioned. If I were you, I would steer clear of MVP bus. They appear to be a shady operation at best. They have false advertising on their website and I am disappointed in Groupon. We did keep our sense of humor and compared it to Chevy Chase’s Vacation movies. It definitely will give us a laugh and we think back on our trip to New York. This experience has made me a little more leery of Groupon. I will have to do my homework before purchasing again.

Utterly disappointed in the services.
I purchased my tickets on Groupon ($ 10 one-​way deal). I normally take Vamoose bus, but because of the great deal on Groupon, I decided to try MVP bus. Whatta HUGE mistake.
Here are the reasons…
1. The bus smells like urinal! Urinal!!! I’m serious… this is no joke! If you do decide to take MVP, I suggest you sit in the front.
2. The bathroom toilet in the bus has not been cleaned and emptied out — so you can guess where the urinal smell is coming from. And on top of that, I had a hard time finding the light switch and the lock to the door, so I pee-​peed in the dark while holding one hand on the door knob. :-(Suggestion — if you do take MVP, bring with you nose-​plug, sanitary wipes, wet-​naps, and/​or napkins.
3. I had the same bus driver hit on me twice. Both times I said NO! Total professionalism, huh? The first time, he asked for my number. The second time, he asked for my number and proceeded to tell me that he had a hotel room. GROSS! He totally grossed me out when he picked his nose with his fingers too! I’m sure he got pretty embarrassed when I caught him with his finger up his nose!
4. There is no wifi on the bus. The website claims to have free wifi on certain days and buses, but this is not true.
5. You will arrive to your destination late (I bought a total of 4-​one way tickets and he was late to ALL destinations).
I told my friends NOT to ever take this bus. A totally horrible experience.
Smell ya later, MVP Bus!!! YUCK-​O!!!

I do not recommend unless you have absolutely no other options on getting to New York, like in my situation. Megabus canceled our bus trip without any notice so I scoured the web to find a last-​minute replacement. The reviews I could find weren’t that great but I was desperate. The
website was nice and easy to navigate, so I took my chances.
I arrived in Baltimore to a small, barely visible office and across the street, an abandoned parking lot next to a gas station in a fairly sketchy part of town. Bums were everywhere, and attempted to talk to me and my kids as we were unloading our bags. I can tell you I said a prayer over my car to be there when I got back because it really wasn’t a great place to leave your car overnight.
We waited for the bus to pull up to the corner when people started pushing to get on and waving their printed receipts. It was chaotic. The tour guide, bless his heart, was trying to keep order but it became apparent there weren’t enough seats. What?!! We finally made it on and were lucky to snag seats all the way in the back. The bus was ok, typical tour bus. The bathroom smelled strong, but we were right next to it. I checked for wi-​fi as the website had advertised. Nothing. There were tvs but bus driver never put on a movie. So we slept.
For the trip back to Baltimore, the bus changed the departure point without any notification. We walked all the way around Penn Station in the freezing cold looking for the bus. Bus driver yelled and laughed with passengers the first two hours and we could hear him all the way in the back of the bus. Very disorganized and unprofessional.

I wasn’t even a passenger and I had an awful experience. Thats gotta tell you something. They honor walk ups more than the customers who have reservations. So unless you only do walk ups you are shit out of luck.
I went to drop off my girlfriend at a 3pm bus and as the metro did get us there a little late we were still there at 2:50pm. Only to find out that the bus had already left. I know what you are saying, what a bus left early thats amazing and unheard of. Yes its unheard of because as a stipulation to buying their bus tickets you are required to be there 30MINS prior to departure unless you want to forfeit your seat. They started boarding the bus at 2:30 and took all walk ups to fiil the empty seats and left at 2:45pm. So we had to wait until the 4:30 bus which of course left late, go figure.
I understand policies and rules however if you have a policy that states you need to be there 30 mins prior to a departure, then make that a bold fucking headline or say be there at 2:30 not 3pm. Its common sense to load the bus and at 3 if there are empty seats then you fill them with walk ups you idiots. Bolt bus and mega bus clearly know what they are doing. The only reason my gf didnt get those buses, which we ride constantly to and from nyc, is because they were sold out.
Please stay clear of MVP
P. S. Just got off the phone with my gf, the ride was apparently worse than this story

Absolute worst experience on a bus to NYC ever.
I selected MVP specifically because their route listing on GoToBus said they went from downtown Baltimore to Chinatown (with a quick stop at Penn Station first). And they advertised having on-​board WiFi.
First the bus was half an hour late getting to Baltimore. No explanation. And no WiFi.
Then the driver just tootled along without trying to make up the lost time. He even stopped at TWO travel plazas in New Jersey.
Finally the whammy. Everyone got off the bus at Penn Station, over an hour late. I asked the driver when we were headed to Chinatown; he replied that the bus quit doing that stop months ago. I showed him my email confirmation with the times & locations clearly listed. He just laughed and went back to his cigarette.
Fucking. Assholes.

The only good thing about MVP was that there were plenty of seats going up and I got to sit by myself. I was trying to save $ 5 so I didn’t book with Bolt or Megabus like I usually do. It is NOT worth saving $ 5. I will never ride MVP again.
Although we found the office eventually, the bus that was outside did not say MVP. That should have been our first clue that MVP was not up to Megabus/​Bolt standards. That and the fact that the office looked like a condemned building.
The driver was on his cell phone for some of the trip. While we left close to on time (7:30AM) we stopped for about HALF AN HOUR in Baltimore. I don’t know why we sat there that long. I also don’t know why their pickup is in the middle of the City instead of near the interstate exit like White Marsh. That adds on about 40 minutes!
That wasn’t too bad, but then we also stopped at the rest station. We didn’t get in to NYC until 12:30PM!
Usually my bus trips take about four hours. MVP is FIVE!
So we had already decided we were NEVER taking MVP again. But the return trip was even worse!
We were scheduled to leave on the 7PM back to DC. We arrived to the pickup location at 6:30 and were told that the bus was going to be 40 MINUTES LATE coming in to pick us up. We finally boarded, after a terrible debacle of lining up and people cutting and a new line being created, around 8PM.
One nice feature on the return trip was a movie (Avatar). But the sound was so loud that people started shouting. It was also freezing on the bus, but I could have asked the driver to turn the AC down, so I won’t fault them for that.
But like I said, the experience on Bolt and Megabus is so much nicer that MVP will never be a thought for me again.

On a wonderful Friday afternoon, my girlfriend and myself decided to head to NYC to visit a few of my friends. After arriving, the bus was about 17 mins late, which wasn’t too much of an issue. Should have been a sign. The bus listing stated it offered wifi, so I was going to finish up a work project on the way up. Nothing. Probably not a good idea to work with spreadsheets on an iPhone.
For some reason, the trip to Baltimore took about 40 mins more than usual. And the ride to NYC was horrible with no organization in seating with people being left behind and screaming because of it.
For a cheaper ticket than Megabus or Boltbus, MVP is a decent option. Just make sure to bring an MP3 player, your favorite magazines — or a sedative, you’ll be on the bus for a longer than expected time.

3÷8÷10
Ok so why the five stars I know you’re wondering. Well I was running behind and called the 703 # on my living social voucher and told the guy I was leaving from Franconia Speingfield on the metro and wanted to make the 7pm. He said hy could only hold the bus till 7:05
I took the sketchy alley between H & «Eye» streets and barely made the turn around the corner as the bus was pulling out @7:05 I yelled out and the guy from the phone heard me and stopped the bus. He greeted me and said «I was hoping you’d make it» I gave him my ticket thanked him & the bus driver and boarded the bus panting like crazy.
So that’s five star customer service in my book any day!

Based on the ride up, I’d give it one star, but the ride back was better. We left about half an hour late, because the hydraulics weren’t working. They still weren’t working, making the whole ride up bumpy as hell. Not only that, but the bathroom wasn’t working, and the driver never stopped. Combined with the bumpiness, it made the last half of the trip interminable. Not to mention the driver took the Holland Tunnel, dragging out the last part of the trip.
The ride back down was better; we left on time, took the Lincoln Tunnel. It wasn’t nearly as bumpy. But the overhead lights didn’t work, so once the sun set, we weren’t able to read. So yeah, avoid this one.

Never travel by MVP bus. Hitch hiking may get you there more quickly and safer.
We picked up the bus at the Baltimore station, which I will not review in detail since this listing is for DC (it’s the same bus, different stops). I will simply sum up the station by stating that I had to bring my own roll of TP to the restroom with me, and the lobby resembles a swing club that should be shut down for health code reasons.
On to the bus service. Be aware of the following things:
1. They chronically overbook, and will leave you stranded regardless of whether you have reserved, have a ticket, have spoken to management (and been assured of your seat) that week or even that day, are first in line, or any other factor. Your best bet is to «reserve» online, but see point number 2 for details on that.
2. There is no such thing as reserve seating here, and the staff will scream into your face (from the start) to read your ticket carefully for clauses stating as much. The term «reserved seating» doesn’t mean you have a seat, there is apparently always a claus to let them out of giving you a seat. If you tell them you have reserved by phone or at the station, you will loudly be accused of lying. This happened to several people in line — including me. I would ad that we were assured of our reserved seat at 1pm during a face-​to-​face conversation with the same person who then told us at 6pm that we were lying about double checking our reservation. Perhaps if she had paused her cell phone chatting during our 1pm attempt at her ticket window, or written anything down, she would have remembered us.
3. They may charter buses with no wifi, mostly broken seats, and non-​functioning bathrooms. One of our buses could not go over 45 mph and as a result we were very late. The bus was through Dream Tours, in case you’re curious. The MVP bus itself was much nicer, but there is no telling what bus you’ll be on — if you can even get on the bus with your ticket.
4. If you are refused a seat for the last bus in either direction, they have no problem leaving you stranded in that city overnight with no assistance. The next day, they will give you crap about honoring your ticket/​reservation because it has expired.
We had bought our fares through a Living Social offer, then called by phone to reserve our seats in the both directions. We also arrived early to verify that all was well in both directions on the day of. We checked and double checked. The result was that we were told we would likely be left in NYC overnight, but eventually were allowed on. She (the one we spoke to at 1 and 6p, with the cell phone habit) loudly humiliated us in front of the packed bus by informing us that she was doing us a favor, calling us untruthful, and then declaring that we should have somehow gotten our reservation with a written signature from management. Keep in mind that they only take reservations by phone or online… tickets bought at the station or confirmed there are not considered reservations and are the last to be seated.
This is the poorest excuse for a travel business that I have ever encountered in years of international travel. Do NOT patronize these dishonest, uncoordinated people.

I have traveled from DC to NYC and back several times and the MVP bus was actually the best travel experience I have had, and that includes the trips I have made on flying, taking the train, driving and taking other bus companies. It’s not like this was exactly luxurious travel, but for $ 35 round trip, who’s complaining?
The bus picks up passengers in DC at 6^th & I, a few blocks from the Chinatown Metro, and takes about 4 and a half hours to get to Penn Station in New York City. Each way is $ 20 or roundtrip for $ 35. Both there and back the buses were clean, the passengers were quiet and we actually left when we were supposed to and arrived when we were supposed to. The buses had clean restrooms and hung plastic bags in the aisles for trash every few rows. They had small TVs built in but they didn’t show a movie either way (which I didn’t think was a bad thing), not sure if this is something they sometimes offer.
The bus left on time at 7pm on a Thursday night and was maybe ¹⁄₅ full. We made a very quick stop in Baltimore to pick up a few additional passengers and then were on our way. We got to Penn Station in New York City at 11:30, exactly when the ticket said we would. When I returned on the 11am bus on Sunday, it was about ½ full, which surprised me, since the MegaBus idling right in front of us seemed like it was really packing the passengers on. Again a quick stop in Baltimore and we were still back in DC by 3:30 despite hitting a little traffic near the Beltway.
At the end of the day, this is still a bus service and it’s not my favorite way to spend 4 and a half hours, but if you want to get to NYC on the cheap and without a lot of hassle, MVP is the way to go.