I always use the big bus tour group when I come to NYC with teenagers. The customer service is…read moregreat-- as we are checking in between 18 and 25 people. it's an easy way for us to travel around the city and let them separate off into some smaller groups but not get worried they don't know how to get back to the meet up. The open top is a great way to see the buildings especially when it's your first time to the city. The recorded running commentary is informative and witty. This year we again did one day on the red route and one day the blue route. Great experience- especially Denise and Wanda!

Big Bus Tours is a great concept with extremely poor execution and staff mentality of hustling…read morecustomers. Before even coming to New York we had already planned to do the Big Bus Tour through the New York Pass via Go City. As we wandered the streets, we were constantly hounded by their aggressive staff in the streets trying to get us to buy tickets. Chill, we already have tickets!! Honestly if we didn't already have tickets I would have been so turned off I wouldn't have gotten tickets for it. On the day we redeemed the Hop On Hop Off we went to the stop by M&M World as indicated on their map. And just for the record I have their App, so it SHOULD be simple. Since we wanted to do the uptown loop, we were directed by their staff to walk a few blocked the other way to a different stop. Then ran into another staff member who gave us the opposite direction. The first person gave us bad directions and wasted AT LEAST an hour of our time. And as I mentioned the App, there were buses that were synced without any updates for 20-30mins. What's going on?? And even when we asked their staff they didn't know when the next bus would come either. So frustrating!! In THEORY the value of this hop on hop off bus would be to help you explore the city. You can stay on the bus the entire time and do full loops of the uptown or down town loops OR you can get off and explore a little bit, and hop back on at a later time. All great... if it was actually reliable. Also they give you headphones to listen to their audio tours. Jeez who uses wired headphones these days? Give me something to sync to so I can use my airpods. The audio quality was so poor. It was be loud one moment and then hard to hear the next... and if you increase the volume, later it would be too loud in a painful way. And I've done a lot of these tours in many cities. Usually I have a PERSON telling me amazing facts about the city. This is a recorded unpersonal tour, I am expecting THE BEST FACTS. After being disappointed by the segment I listened to, I gave up on the audio tour. I enjoyed the view from the top deck, and being able to see things without the pedestrians in my way. Well the pleasant feeling soon ended because we were almost at our final destination when the bus stops WITH NO ANNOUNCEMENTS and we're all sitting there baking in the sun wondering what happened. People started leaving. MORE WASTED TIME. Awful operations. I was over it after a while and told my boyfriend we should leave too. When we got off we saw their staff in some deli nearby eating lunch. Obviously I want people to take their lunch breaks but an FYI would have been nice. They allegedly "gave" us a second day but I didn't even want to deal with it. Too unreliable of a service and too much wasting time. Is there another tour bus company that's better than this one in NY?

My husband and I love learning about history. Tour guide, Franky and Guy, are the original New…read moreYorker. "Youse guys." The stories the can tell about New York is non stop and rich in history. I used to think New York was a dirty and scary place as it is depicted in the news and movies. Boy, was I wrong. Very wrong. Thank you Small Bus Tours NYC Franky and Guy for opening my eyes and giving me a new appreciation of New York. They're worth the money. Trust me!

Took this tour while visiting with my mom for a long weekend. We opted for this tour instead of the…read moreothers because it stated there was a one hour boat ride to see the Statue of Liberty. However, it was actually just a ferry ride, which is free, with no real organization of getting on except for running and making sure you can see the tour guide and then getting off to instantly to catch the next one back as soon as you got there. This should be explained in the details. Additionally, you do stop at the places mentioned but you do not get access to go into anything. For the Brooklyn Bridge it was basically just walking to the front for a photo and leaving. Same for Grand Central Terminal, you go in and walk around quickly while he explains a few things. For $220/pp, I expected a bit more. Martin was our tour guide and he was great. His voice was loud and he knew what he was doing. Just keep in mind that you should honestly be in shape for this tour because you are consistently having to jog/run to keep up with the tour guide to stay on schedule. I would not recommend for anyone who cannot keep up. All in all, we had a smaller group, so it felt more intimate and it was nice meeting others from different countries and states. And you are able to get nice pictures throughout.

We were taking our kids to NYC for the first time on a quick weekend trip and wanted to do a…read moresightseeing tour so they could see a lot of famous landmarks from across the city in the short amount of time we had available. I researched various options and saw the many positive reviews for this company. After reading their itinerary and how they cover both uptown and downtown landmarks as well as a boat ride past the Statue of Liberty, we were sold and booked immediately. The day of our tour, we arrived at our meeting location that was outside of McDonald's. I knew from reading other reviews that we would be looking for a small unmarked van. We walked up to the driver and gave our name, he was able to check us in before I could even pull up our digital tickets. Our tour was small, a total of 10 people, plus our guide, Bryant, our driver, and their "supervisor" This was exactly what we were looking for; personalized service, access to many different points of interest, a knowledgeable guide who shared a lot of information with us and who had an awesome personality which made the tour very fun for everyone. This was by far the best sightseeing tour in NYC, don't get roped into the hop on hop off big bus tours, they simply don't compare.

This tour has a lot going for it. So here's a list of the pluses and minuses…read more - There's only 24 people so it's very intimate. Our bus held 42 people so you aren't crowded either. - Our guide Bryant was extremely knowledgeable, funny and made our tour very special. - In 6 hours we covered most of Manhattan with a few walking opportunities. - We really got a great feel for the neighborhoods and what sets them apart. - Our Staten Island Ferry experience was outstanding. - There is some walking required. Our step counter registered around 5300 steps. - The bus was hot. We had to ask the driver every time we got on to turn on the A/C.

All important sights were covered and explained in details. Enjoyed everything and all the sights…read moreand surroundings, would highly recommend to all my family and friends

Comfortable ride until the A/C was turned off due to over heating. Disappointed. Did not go to…read moreStatue of Liberty, The Bull, Universities or Cathedrals. I expected a vehicle with windows I could see out of during the tour. Was pretty boring. Bus had dark windows so we were not able to take pictures while on the bus.

I've never rented a party bus before but I am SO glad I did so with Tour Rider. I was looking for a…read moreparty bus to take my friends to the Met museum for my bday party (the Met Gala, if you will). We started at my rooftop in Hudson Yards and took a Tour Rider party bus to the Met. Most tour companies make you book a 5-6 hour minimum and require a round trip, but Tour Rider let me do a one-way trip and only charged for one hour. They were super professional, respectful, and even provided water. They were by far the cheapest option, and still delivered an exceptional, premium experience. The MOST bang for my buck. Tour Rider helped me execute the best birthday I've ever had - I would recommend Tour Rider to everyone! Now I have a Party Bus guy

Accomodating, flexible, fun, fairly priced, etc. Just can't say enough good things about this…read morecompany. I left a google review with more details about just how amazing our experience was with this company. This is one you can definitely trust to provide you with excellent service.

Service is bad. We waited over an hour at one of the stops and no bus ever showed up. The tours…read morewe were able to get on were not that great: the audio is not in sync with actual location. Salesman was aggressive. There are better hop-on hop-off bus tours in NYC

This experience was extremely disappointing and did not match what was advertised. We paid more…read morethan $250 for a family of four to take the 8:00 p.m. tour, including an additional fee for a live entertainer who was supposed to provide trivia, local knowledge, and interactive commentary throughout the tour. The confirmation email emphasized the importance of arriving on time, stating that the tour would depart promptly and would not wait for late customers. We arrived on time, only to find a very large line of people waiting for the same tour. When we asked about seating, we were told there would be multiple buses and that we could wait for another bus if we were unhappy with the available seating. Despite the strict departure policy communicated to customers, our bus did not leave until approximately 8:55 p.m.--nearly an hour after the scheduled departure time. Before departure, we were informed that the live entertainer we had paid extra for would not be present because "the guy called in sick." No substitute was provided, and there was no offer of a partial refund despite the fact that a key feature of the upgraded experience was unavailable. When we asked employees about the entertainer's absence and the additional amount we had paid for that experience, their response was apathetic and dismissive. There appeared to be little concern that customers were not receiving the service they had purchased. During the tour, we were provided headphones and listened to prerecorded narration rather than a live guide. Long stretches of music played between narration segments, and the commentary frequently did not align with our actual location. As a result, many landmarks were either missed entirely or discussed after we had already passed them. To make matters worse, the tour concluded around 10:00 p.m., giving us only a few minutes of actual sightseeing after finally departing. Between the nearly one-hour delay, the absence of the live entertainer we paid extra for, the dismissive customer service, and the poor quality of the prerecorded tour, the experience felt disorganized, misleading, and far from worth the price we paid. I would not recommend this tour to others.

From a Native NYer's POV--…read more It's been cold in NY! And it just so happens that my cousins have birthdays the first week of December. In order to make their day special, I wanted to take them on a tour of New York City. As a local, I would normally do a walking tour, but when the temperatures hit below, freezing, my Floridian cousins could not handle the cold. OK, I admit it. I couldn't handle it well either. So I was looking for an experience that would give me the tour. I wanted to share with them, but better than a hop on hop off bus. That's when I found The Ride! Honestly, the experience was exceptional! You get on the bus and you sit sideways to see the incredible cityscape of New York around you. We went around Times Square, radio city, Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park, and the very bottom of Central Park. When you experience The Ride, you have two tour guides on the bus who tell you some facts about the city in a very funny and interesting way. The bus itself also gives you facts, because "The Ride" bus also has a personality of its own. My cousins had no idea we were doing this, and they absolutely loved it . Because it was called the holiday ride, we also saw some surprises along the way, including dancers, actors, and Freestyle rappers! It really made it feel like a true New York City Disney World attraction. You also can't control what you see on the street, so sometimes people wave at you just to wave and sometimes people make interesting gestures at you lol . Overall, as far as tourism goes for New York City , 10/10, 5 stars, and that's coming from a local born and raised. This was an awesome experience to bring my family to.

Based on the great reviews, I decided to book The Ride for my family during my children's first…read morevisit to NYC. Unfortunately, I was very underwhelmed. One of the street performers was a fantastic singer, but the rest were honestly a waste of time -- poor singing and awkward acting. It's far too expensive for what you get. That said, if you're celebrating a special occasion, it might be worth considering. They went out of their way to make a woman celebrating her birthday feel special, with repeated shoutouts from the performers.

I had about an hour left in the evening when I spoke with the agent. I asked him exactly when they…read morewere going to leave when they approached me about buying a seat on the bus tour. He said "right now" and that the tour would take an hour. Well, we sat on the bus 65 minutes and they still didn't leave. These guys insist on filling the bus before they take off so what they told me was garbage. Don't take one of these tours unless you have plenty of time to waste waiting for them to fill every seat. Very misleading. By this time it was 10:20pm. We left told the driver before he left l that it was too late for us and we wanted our money back. He said that I needed to take that up with the ticket agent. We exited the bus and found the person who took our payment and told us the bus was leaving right away. He said that he could do nothing more than put us on the next bus. He refused to reverse the charge and said "just ask your bank to take care of it".

From the owner: Hop On Hop Off Tours LLC is your gateway to exploring the iconic sights and hidden gems of New York…read moreCity in the most flexible and immersive way possible. As a premier sightseeing company, we offer a seamless and exciting experience, allowing you to hop on and off our comfortable buses at any of the city's must-see attractions. Whether you're admiring the towering Empire State Building, strolling through the lush greenery of Central Park or snapping photos of the *Statue of Liberty, our tours provide the perfect blend of convenience and adventure. Our routes are designed to give you the freedom to explore at your own pace, offering an in-depth, guided journey through the city's most dynamic neighborhoods. With live commentary and stunning panoramic views, Hop On Hop Off Tours LLCconnects you to New York's vibrant culture, history, and landmarks like no other. Whether you're a first-time visitor or a New York enthusiast, we ensure every ride is more than just a tour—it's a journey through the heart of the city.

This was good. We went here for my 24th birthday party years ago. I had seen each TV show one time,…read moreand knew only some of the trivia. I liked the places like Tao for Cosmos.

We did this today. I'm a huge fan, and my husband was so…read moresweet and went with me on the tour. (I would have gone by myself or would in the future and wouldn't care lol) Got to see great SATC spots, and also other NYC landmarks. One thing I would recommend is when they stop the bus to shop at bleeker, (they don't tell you this) buy carries house is a block away. Go there and take a picture, as to me it's the ultimate SATC photo op :)

I bought a tour with Groupon. So it was affordable. Nice ride on the top of the bus which was…read moremostly empty. They gave us headphones to listen to pre-recorded tour narration. The idea is great - there were multiple languages on the screen. But most of them didn't work. Mine had English coming on one side and Chinese on the other lol. It was also delayed. They recheck your tickets at the boat. Have your hats on and lots of sunscreen!

Horrible company!!!!! Do not waste your money or time!!!!! Got on the bus at 9am. We were the only…read moregroup on the bus. We asked to be dropped off at the Madison Square Garden stop and the driver missed the stop. Dropped us in Little Italy. We spent a few hours there and went to the pick up spot. 1.5 hours later and they never showed up. We ended up taking the subway to the remainder of our stops for the day!!! Groupon should not support this business. I will be disputing the charges!!!!!