Frank Vega was an excellent driver and very responsive to our needs. He picked us up exactly when we said we needed. He was funny and friendly and made our drive go by quickly. We also had an extremely nice bus! read more

The purpose of this review is to hopefully encourage the company proprietor to make changes in staffing and procedures to ensure that customers are safe, informed, and receive POLITE service. Given the amount of money we had to fund raise over the course of four years to pay for these buses it would have been nice to have polite and helpful customer service, fully functional buses, and drivers that were informed and fully aware of traffic laws! $12,350 for two buses, less than 450 miles round trip. -Lacey Rivera is unbelievably RUDE. Had the booking been for personal and not professional purposes, I would've told her to cancel our reservation the first time she had an attitude about answering basic questions. Customers booking buses are not necessarily aware of the bus laws or requirements for bus drivers however, the staff should be aware of these laws and should assume that they need to inform customers of any pertinent information when booking a trip. We booked our trip in May 2024, a year ahead of time and I was not made aware until November about the requirements for bus drivers and the laws that would affect our trip. Ultimately, our students would either be stranded for over an hour prior to the event or over an hour after the event, rebooking with another bus company would have increased the price exponentially. I had to request information from Lacey repeatedly before receiving answers to basic but important questions. Unable to continue waiting for information from Lacey I called the office and spoke with Victoria, who was extremely helpful. I then noticed a hostile change in Lacey's behavior as though she was offended that I asked somebody else for information when it was her account to handle. Victoria Jones was extremely helpful and polite every time we had an interaction but dealing with Lacey after that was unpleasant. -Overall, my students made it to their destination and back safely however some of the feedback I received from students, school employees, and parent chaperones was concerning. One of our buses had some pretty serious damage to the passenger side of the bus upon arrival. Students reported that when returning in the wee hours of the morning, one of the bus drivers was running the lights and stop signs. One chaperone specifically reported a near accident that was definitely the fault of the driver. One of our buses had electrical issues and had to pull over at one point. The other bus did not have air-conditioning, which is an unfortunate thing during a heat wave on the last couple days of May. For $12,350?? Bus drivers were friendly and polite! However, some of the information that had been provided to the bus company was not provided to the drivers so they were uninformed about some key aspects of the trip. -Our high school had to pay $12,350 for two buses to travel less than 450 miles. I think a breakdown of cost should be provided to the customers as this is an overwhelming amount of money for students at a public school to be expected to come up with. It seems companies intentionally rip off schools at this time of year to maximize their profits and have zero interest in supporting students and communities. Given the amount of money we had to fund raise over the course of four years to pay for these buses it would have been nice to have polite and helpful customer service, fully functional buses, and drivers that were informed and fully aware of traffic laws! read more

Frank Vega is the most accommodating driver we have ever used on our trips. Two times for our school trip to Vegas, can only tell you to request Frank for all trips you take. read more

I just took an Amtrak related Trailways connection from San Luis Obispo to San Jose. I have never left a review before. But I had to get the name of our bus driver: Frank Vega. HE SHOUKD DEFINITELY GET A RAISE AND BE A TRAINING EXAMPLE FOR ALL Poor performing BUS DRIVERS AND new TRAINEES. I have to say this trip, and F. Vegas's driving, was the best I have experience on a bus contracted by Amtrak, by far! I have traveled all over the U.S. in Amtrak. Anytime there was a bus connection I would feel a kind of dread not knowing what kind of driver I would get or how bad the bus ride/maintenance of bus would be? Often time (other) drivers and bus were awful. Amtrak's use of Greyhound has been the worst from my experience. Trailways on the other hand, is clean, the bus seems very road worthy, and is substantially better than Greyhound! As far as drivers: go Frank Vega took the passenger experience to the next level! He was: Professional, great communicator, great driver, timely, very cordial and friendly to all passengers! Thanks again Mr. Vega. You're the best! Hope you are rewarded for his service. Happy 2025! read more

I've ridden with Frank V. twice with large groups of high school students in the past year, and both experiences were outstanding! He's incredibly kind, accommodating, and makes the entire trip feel relaxed and enjoyable. Frank goes out of his way to make sure everyone is comfortable and well taken care of, which really stands out. Highly recommend him and this charter bus service for any group travel needs!" read more

We (Breakaway Tours and Events) had a great partnering with American Star Tour Transportation Co.. Frank Vega (co-pilot) and Ruth (driver) offered professional, safe, thorough, and safe passage for 50 guests of various ages aboard a very comfortable and clean 5 star vehicle up Pacific Coast Highway to Hearst Castle. As a veteran tour bus driver and guide, I recommend this company, Ruth the driver , and Frank for the best experience on the Central Vosst and beyond. read more

Frank Vega is the best driver i've ever had in my life please give him a raise he deserves it. Made the 3 hour ride feel like i was flying first class on an airplane all because of frank !! read more

Frank vega was my bus driver today and he had great service with the team. was very helpful and kind.

Let me start by saying, I don't write shitty reviews. Ever. I come from a customer service background and think that if you have an issue with a company, bring to management and handle it there. But I am beyond disappointed. I reached out to AmericanStar and requested a manager to call me back and never received a call. I actually reserved AmericanStar through Buster, so I tried them. They did return my call and offered to take my complaint into "investigation." -That didn't end up great either, I don't feel like my complaint was taken very seriously. They will receive my 2nd ever shitty review. We reserved 2 large busses to occupy up to 95 people for our wedding. Our bridal party and family members came to the venue early to do hair and makeup/ photos, so the busses only took maybe 50 or 60 people from the hotel TO the venue. Fast forward to the end of the evening and I find out 1 of the shuttles is completely broken down in front and will not start. Not great news for the bride to hear. We had some people who were tired/ drunk/ older that were ready to head out a bit early anyway so they load up, and I'm told that multiple people including our wedding planner had to notify the bus driver that he had to come back but he said "we only brought over x number of people and there are that many in the shuttle now." Yet, 50 people were literally still on the dancefloor at the wedding behind the house. Clearly there were less people that CAME to the venue on the busses and 1 of the busses was broken down. I reserved 2 shuttles to fit 95 people because......we needed to get 95 people back to the hotel! Wedding ends, and it's time to rally everyone to wait for the shuttle to return. We waited for what seemed like FOREEEEEVER before I finally call the driver and ask where he is. He said "I took a wrong turn, I'll be there in 25 minutes." I said, "25 minutes? That's how long it takes to get FROM the hotel?" .....Where the heck had he been all this time? Guests from shuttle #1 told me he took a wrong turn and ended up taking the 46, which is SO far out of the way. 56 minutes on google maps, versus the typical 22 minute drive (the right way). Also a TERRIBLY windy drive, people were nearly getting car sick from the drive. Yes, there were sober people on the bus. Our shuttle(S) were supposed to depart at 11 pm with a return to our hotel at 11:30 pm, for the after party. Shuttle #1 departed earlier than 11 pm (I would guess around 10:30 or so), and shuttle "#2" didn't arrive to the hotel until nearly 1 am (when the bar closes). We got home an hour and a half late, had a shuttle completely break down (not to be taken care of until 11 am the next day), and missed our after party entirely. It's okay, they refunded us 10% of the bill and who knows what they reported to Buster afterwards. If that's the case, where was the driver for the other hour + he was missing? Eating donuts? Also, apparently if there is EVER a shuttle that breaks down, it needs to be reported to Buster. Guess what? No report. If I wanted 1 shuttle and to wait an hour and a half, I would have hired a tiny shuttle and had it make 3 trips and saved a ton of money. I reserved two shuttles large enough to make only one trip and it ended up being a complete disaster. People waiting around, sitting on the ground in their nice outfits waiting for the shuttle to return. Either ALL my guests are crazy...or someone messed up, didn't report it, and didn't feel like hitting it face on. All in all, extremely dissatisfied with this experience and would not rehire. I understand accidents and I understand mistakes, what I don't get is bad customer service that doesn't recognize when a real refund is required. read more

I don't often charter busses, but I cannot think of a more horrible customer service experience than this. What started out as an exciting night full of possibilities quickly turned to shambles after AmericanStar Trailways entered the picture. One of the two buses was over an hour late for pick up at Cal Poly, resulting in cold guests. The bus drivers were very rude and caustic, and would not give the bus leaders the PA system to communicate with the passengers. Wait, one bus driver did - for $80! After talking to the corporate headquarters we were told bus drivers were not supposed to except tips or charge for the PA system. So now I am confused, where did the $80 go? Let's also talk about the falsified claims they made. They said "there were bodily fluids and vomit on the bus," According to our passengers who were of sound mind and body, no such thing took place on the bus. The company refused to provide any proof of a soiled bus interior and charged $250 per bus as a cleaning fee. Never will I ever use this company again, SLO Safe Ride provides a much better service! read more

I'm so glad that I was referred to Americanstar Trailways! First off, every person I spoke with had an upbeat personality and made me feel as if I was their most important customer. Sherry made sure that we understood everything and answered every question I had. I rented the executive coach limo for my wife's 30th birthday celebration wine tasting trip. The executive coach we rented was extremely clean an very impressive. Our driver Kelvin MADE the experience. We had a group of 18 and he treated all of us like royalty. I never expected the amazing service he gave to my group. He helped load and unload supplies and insists that he set up our lunch so that we could enjoy the tasting. I would give 6 stars that was an option. Great trip! read more

I have used American Star for charter service for my school groups for years. Lacey and Ginger have always been very helpful and wonderfully pleasant to work with. That's not always the case in this industry. My most recent trip was with my middle school band to Disneyland. Paul Bunting was our driver and he was awesome! Very friendly, super flexible, good communication and availability during the trip, and he has some great stories to tell! Thanks for making a great trip even greater. Oh, and he's got a good movie selection! I'll be calling them again in a few months to arrange next year's trips! read more

I took the bus three years ago from Arroyo Grande to the State Fair & purchased my ticket on line - no problem, all was good. This time, I'm trying to buy a ticket to the State Fair and the link to buy a ticket is telling me I must have a password. Of course, I don't. No one is in the American Star Trailways on the weekend - I guess they think no one traveling on the weekend has to buy a ticket or has any other issue. Even tried their emergency line which sent me back to the original phone message. I recently had knee surgery, so parking far away and walking is difficult - I need bus transportation! Very disappointed. read more

We used American Star Trailways two times. They took our youth groups to winter camp this past year. They were on time and even early. They managed to fit all of our stuff under the bus when we were filled to capacity with lots of luggage to head up to winter camp. The drivers were professional and pleasant. The driver even tracked us down to return a lost wallet one student had left on the bus. The office staff was very helpful and even reassured us we were getting an experienced driver for the possibility of snowy mountain roads. We plan to use them soon. read more

Unfriendly and tailgated the hell out of the other motorists. I want to get to my destination quickly, but in one piece, if you please

American Star is truly the best bus company on the central coast!! My husband worked for Trudy around 20 years ago and loved it. Now Tim the CP baseball driver is the BEST! The boys have told me they really enjoy Tim being their driver! This is simply the BEST!! They truly take care of every passenger!! read more

Can't say enough good things about this company and especially the driver I always have the pleasure of getting, Mike! He is always on time and extra helpful when it come to loading all our luggage. We use this company a lot for an exchange student program, think LOTS OF KIDS. Mike is always so accommodating with our requests to stop at Starbucks. He is an amazing driver and I aleays feel completely safe when he's at the wheel. read more

Literally the worst service I could ever imagine. They were rude and aggressive and made our entire experience unnecessarily stressful. Would absolutely NEVER RECOMMEND. read more

This review is for a full-size charter coach we hired for the entire weekend of our wedding. We really wanted our guests to be able to relax and enjoy the weekend, so we decided to hire American Star. Ginger was very easy to work with and helpful in pricing out the different options. I felt like I got a really fair deal and she made the process painless. Our bus driver, Teri, was so fun. Incredibly professional and pleasant. All of our guests enjoyed themselves and I would definitely hire them again. read more

We used American Star Trailways for our wedding transportation this September to help our guests get from downtown Paso Robles to Cass Winery. They were very professional and really easy to work with. They even let us change our itinerary the night before the wedding. Everything went perfectly, and we will definitely recommend them to our friends and family. read more

A true family run business! The office is very professional and helpful. The driver we had was so polite and friendly. Renting a bus from there was very easy and I will be sure to do it again! read more

The AmericanStar office staff is always friendly and ready to help with your traveling needs. Drivers are safe and willing to please on all of our trips. From a one day trip to a seven day trip. Busses are kept clean and running smooth. read more

Would leave zero stars if allowed. This is my 3 rd time taking this bus and have had a horrible experience every time. From fights on the bus to the topper of having to wait an hour for the next bus.i wouldn't have minded accept the lady was right out rude about it with no apologizing at all about it. If you are going to inconvenience your paying costumer,do it politely,For us lining up on time and the bus running out of seats is not our fault. You want the most unrealiable transportation with no one taking responsibility this is it. Worse experience ever. Only option and still is not worth it. DO NOT EVER HIRE THIS COMPANY! read more

Mike Barbosa is the absolute best bus driver. He is friendly and really cares that the people on his bus are safe and well cared for. Thank you so much for all of your hard work. read more

I just returned from leading a 5-day college science field trip to Death Valley National Park and we hired a 40-passenger bus from American Star. This was the third time with their company and the service has ALWAYS been first rate! This year the driver was Nestor Castellanos and he was just fantastic!! He was very accommodating to our specific needs, he helped with the luggage and water, and became "part of the family" within a few hours. We will be asking for Nestor as a driver for our next trip in the fall!! read more

I have traveled on American Star many times and they are helpful and so friendly. The person who always talks to me on the phone is very friendly her name is Sherry and she is professional and very helpful. Every person that I have talked to has been friendly and helpful and I have shopped around and they always have the best prices. The buses are clean and the drivers are so nice. I recommend them highly. read more

I booked a wine tasting event through Breakaway Tours who used your company. Georgianna (Georgie) was our driver. She was AMAZING!!! When we book another tour, we will ask for her again. She is a keeper. read more

I just saw one of their drivers looking at his phone with both hands on the phone while at a stop light at a busy intersection in West Los Angeles. Someone honked behind him and he started going without even looking up - and the light was still red! Very dangerous! read more