BoltBus

Bus arrived 15mins before departure– on time.
Customer service ladies and driver were very polite and helpful.
Five star:
Bus is almost brand new; comfortable leather seat; ample leg room; power outlet in most seats; strong wifi (acceptable speed considering it’s a free service); clean restroom; enough time (30-​mins) provided for meal stop halfway thru the trip.
Three star:
Overhead storage space is smaller than most regular buses, but a bungee cord barrier ensure passenger safety.

Just called in to your «customer service» line and was told that as my ticket is a specialty line it is non-​refundable. As I tried to explain to the customer service agent, I’m not just randomly deciding not to make my bus– I was supposed to make a connection from an Amtrak line that got delayed by 45 minutes out of San Diego.
Was told «it’s not Bolt Bus’ fault» that I can’t get to the bus and they can’t refund my ticket– oddly enough, that’s what Amtrak said too. I’m not *looking* to place fault, I’m looking for customer service, hence I called the customer service line.
So disappointed right now.

I’ve officially used the bolt bus twice and both times I’ve loved it.
I was always skeptical about using the bus system to take me from San Jose to LA and vise versa because I had heard the stories of it being terrible with the smell and a lot of homeless people living on the busses but one day I decided to take it and no stench of homeless people.
I love the fact that there are no stops in between the ride except for a rest stop at Avenal which is half way through the ride.
Avenal doesn’t have the greatest food selection. There is a subway, a convenience store, and a Mexican food place. The rest is usually about half an hour long.
The bus ride itself is comfy. The seats don’t feel dirty and give you enough leg room. The windows are tinted so the sun won’t be too bothersome. There is an outlet to charge your devices! And they have wifi on the bus, but it’s not that good.
The buses can be late due to traffic, so if you know you’re bus should arrive at a time where there is traffic elsewhere, expect it to be late.
I took a bus from SJ to LA at 8:50am and it was late by 20 minutes. It was expected to arrive by 3:50pm and we ended up getting to LA at 3:20pm. I’m not complaining at all about it being early.
All in all, I give this bus service a 5 for making my ride enjoyable and as short as possible.

Love Bolt Bus! Decent fellow passengers, very clean, rules enforced to ensure passenger comfort, safe pick up and drop off areas, and quick stops. The bus was 45 minutes late though.

As much as I agree with all of the positive reviews already given, the Bolt Bus only took 4.5 hours from LA to Vegas and 5 hours from Vegas back to LA… it beats me driving both ways.
I’m giving four stars as a reminder to take this bus service again if going from LA to Vegas.

First I’d like to thank the Greyhound for making Bolt Bus possible! Without Bolt Bus, I’d be stuck riding the «goto​bus​.com» American Lion & Tufesa buses. Their buses smell like a*s btw. Anyway, Bolt Bus is freakin’ awesome! And I say that genuinely & enthusiastically because I am so happy with them! I use them especially to go from LA to Las Vegas and vice versa. I have a house in both cities and I love that I don’t have to drive. I love being able to sleep whenever I want to or study whenever I want to study. Sure flying on a plane is much faster, but it is more costly. With Bolt Bus the most expensive ticket would probably be $ 30 if you’re buying it super late and on a weekend. But my tickets are usually $ 22 – 26 depending on the day and time of departure. In the LA area, you leave from the Union Station near downtown. I believe there is a new stop in Hollywood. The buses are usually fast and I arrive in 4 – 5 hours to Vegas. It’s about the same time as it would take for me to drive. We also get a a rest stop in Barstow (Lenwood Rd., Barstow, CA) for about 15 – 20 minutes. Sometimes we arrive early and get to spend 30 minutes at the rest stop. They usually stop near the Carl’s Jr. area. In-​N-​Out, Starbucks, Chevron gas station, and Panda Express are easily walkable to. You just have to make sure you get back on time or else you’ll end up being left behind! hahaha. It’s almost happened before.

Bolt Bus is perfect for anyone who wants an affordable transportation to many popular destinations! So if you’re traveling on your own, take bolt bus! You will save on gas and you can relax. Check their schedule online and make a reservation as soon as you can! They have many buses in one day but they fill up fast and the order of who gets to aboard the bus first is A and B (this might be determined by who bought the tickets first).
This bus is best for people who want to get to their destination in a speedy yet safe manner because they only have one 30 minute (strict on time) stop unlike some other buses. They have a bathroom in the back of the bus.
My trip was from Los Angeles to San Jose (6 hours approx). The leather seats were very comfortable and you have a huge amount of leg room. My favorite part was that the seats had outlets!!! So download some audibles or whatever you need to do on your device because you got to either sleep or entertain yourself to make the ride go by faster!
The emergency exit seats do not have outlets so check before you sit. Your phone will drain your battery at low reception areas during your ride.
The bus has great ventilation throughout the whole trip, the bathroom did not smell and the air was at a very nice temperature. You can request to the driver to adjust the air if it is too cold or hot, but he seemed to know when to change the air at appropriate times.
My only concern is that this bus is not very punctual with their schedule. My bf who took the bus to LA also experienced this problem. The passengers all waited about 20 minutes in the sun waiting for the bus to arrive, thus our arrival time was delayed. Many people traveling on this bus had people waiting at our drop off.
Overall it was a good experience! I would definitely take bolt bus again.

Took the Bolt Bus for the first time yesterday coming from Oakland back home to Los Angeles. This specific experience was 5 stars for a couple factors:
1). PRICE — 5 Stars
My ticket was $ 1. Yes, ONE DOLLAR!!! (plus $ 2.50 transaction fee, but regardless!) A trip that would normally cost $ 100+ by plane (my last one-​way flight from LAX to OAK was actually, $ 220, yikes!) or $ 30-​$ 50 via other buses. Can’t get any more cost-​effective than this, for all you broke college folks on a budget like me! However, the $ 1 tickets are few and usually randomly offered so it’s kind of the luck of the draw to get one. Definitely book trips at least 2 – 3 weeks in advance to increase your chances.
2). EASE/​ACCESSIBILITY– 4.5 Stars
My departure was at 10pm, I arrived at the West Oakland BART station pretty early, around 9:23pm. Thankfully, the bus was already there waiting, so I didn’t have to wait outside in the cold for half an hour. Last time, when I took the Megabus for the same trip, the departure time was at 12AM and I arrived at 11:20pm, but the bus didn’t get there until about 11:50pm…
Also, I forgot to print out my ticket, but you can just show your confirmation email and it’s fine! Minus .5 because the ticket doesn’t tell you where exactly the bus will drop you off at Union Station — the person picking me up had to look it up on the website.
3.) COMFORTABILITY — 4 Stars
Decent amount of legroom and ample outlets. Okay wifi (connection was not high-​speed or anything, but it didn’t really matter to me since I slept the duration of the trip anyways). It wasn’t super comfortable to sleep, but I mean what bus is?
4.) CUSTOMER SERVICE — 5 Stars
My driver, Ozzy (Ozzie?), was amazing! Any prior cons were honestly made up for by his genuine friendliness, mild humor, overall professional demeanor, and positivity — despite the fact that this was a redeye, 8-​hr trip with one rest stop. I definitely will continue to use BoltBus and I hope all my future trips with BoltBus are driven by people like him!

There is very little difference between Mega Bus and Bolt Bus but I have to ding Bolt Bus for GIVING OUT MY PERSONAL NUMBER TO ANOTHER CUSTOMER.
Another customer lost their bag on a completely different coast and called me asking for it. A company representative had given him my phone number without my consent. I am completely horrified that a company would divulge personal contact information to other people so casually. When confronted, Bolt Bus kept denying they gave out the number without investigating the issue and said it wasn’t in their policy to give out customer information. Obviously, someone from the company did not understand that rule.
I will not be taking Bolt Bus again because they have little respect for customer privacy.

I’ve taken Bolt bus about 3 times now.
Very comfortable, lots of leg room, outlet, and cup holder.
As for the wifi, its sucks… Big time. It never works for me, end up using my phone’s data.
I usually travel with a guitar (which fits in the compartment above), a big pedalboard case (fits under bus), then a small carry on that I put under the seat.
I’ve dealt with one D**k head driver, but the other 2 were cool.
It takes about 6 hours from LA to SJ, and 8 hours from LA to Oakland.
Now here are my tips:
1. Sit closer to the front, you wont get as much motion sickness, AND won’t smell the F***ing piss and poo from the bathroom (seriously) disgusting! Also The back window seat get hot from the engine.
2. Bring some sort of jacket as it can get cold, and u can use it as a head rest when you sleep. And always have headphones.
3. The bus takes a rest stop so you can get a drink/​food MAKE SURE YOU PUT SOMETHING ON YOUR SEAT! To claim it. Some passengers see this as an opportunity to steal your seat! So lame.
4. Finally, try to book in advance so you don’t have to stress.
Hope this helps, be safe!

I actually had a pretty pleasant experience with boltbus. I traveled from Hollywood, Los Angeles to the San Jose location and it took approximately 5 hours. The ticket was $ 30 and was purchased the day of. We arrived 45 minutes earlier than expected which was awesome.
The bus is very roomy and actually very clean and comfy. If you’re sleepy, I’d suggest to bring a pillow! It’s nicely air conditioned so it doesn’t seem musky inside. People on the bus were are all young and very friendly.
The only negatives I experienced were that the bus driver was a little grouchy, and he didn’t help with our bags. Also, the wifi sucked pretty bad so don’t rely on it to get your work done.
Other than that, enjoy the scenic and comfy ride! I’ll definitely be traveling with bolt bus again.

Update: I’ve learned that this review website, Unilocal,has some pretty shady business practices and I encourage everyone to read up on them and consider reading and writing reviews elsewhere.
I’ve taken both Bolt Bus and Megabus five or six times each, so here is a comparison between them.
First, the bad: the last two times I’ve taken Bolt Bus, they entire bus smelled like bathroom cleaner, maybe the kind they use in portapotties? The smell was really strong… the first time I actually got a headache as a result. I complained to the company but didn’t get a reply back. Also, on the route between LA and SF, the lunch break options are only Subway, a convenience store, and bad mexican food. The Megabus stop has 3 or 4 more options to choose from, though nothing too exciting. The Megabus air conditioning is almost always frigid upstairs — everyone wears sweatshirts and blankets. The bus driver can’t adjust it, apparently.
The good: On Bolt Bus, if you get there at least 15 minutes early, usually you can get one of the seats with lots of extra leg room, which is great for me since I’m over 6′. The seats are also roomier and more comfortable than those on Megabus. Wifi seems to be faster than Megabus, but don’t expect any miracles. It’s at least useful though — I’ve tried Megabus wifi many times and it’s all but useless it’s so slow.
Update: took Bolt Bus and MegaBus again last weekend. BoltBus didn’t smell too terrible this time, it was bearable. However, the seat I was in and the ones around me were all very loosely attached the floor, and so were constantly rocking back and forth the whole trip, like a dinner table that is on uneven ground. On my way back with MegaBus, the WiFi and power outlets weren’t working at all for the entire trip.
In summary: both of these bus services are very hit and miss in terms of comfort/​quality, so I would plan for the worst and go with whichever one has the better schedule/​price combo.

In comparison to Megabus, Boltbus is less roomier and the bus drivers are more anal. However, I still appreciate their cheaper ticket prices and infinitely better WiFi.
Also customer service is not bad, Boltbus accidentally charged me for a purchase that informed me didn’t go through, but apparently it did. I called to have them reverse it and they did it with no questions asked!

Use public transportation! It’s less of a headache than flying into LAX. Yes, it’s a madhouse around the holidays but I was able to find a spot (for free!) when when waiting for my brother on the day before Thanksgiving.
The Bolt Bus stop is to the right side of the Union Station next to the Mozaic. There’s a really small bus stop sign but you’ll see the big orange and black busses coming in.
Like most busses, this can ran late — especially in LA traffic. My brother’s bus was an hour late from when it said it’d pull up into the station. Still better than a 2+ hour flight delay!
There’s Wi-​Fi :)

Pretty awesome bus! I booked an 8AM bus ride from LA to SJ. Unfortunately, I missed the 8AM bus that morning due to heavy LA traffic. (Meet at Union Station in Downtown LA).
Boltbus lets you be stand-​by for the next bus, which was leaving at 12PM. So yes, I did spend 4 hours of my life doing nothing, waiting at Union Station. That was fun…
Anyways, the bus is really clean. The seats are leather and there is a lot of leg room. There is also an outlet in front of you where you can charge your phone! Awesome! There’s also wifi on the bus too.
Bus driver was nice. We made only 1 stop on the way back to SJ. And we got there according to schedule which was around 6 hours and 30 mins.
The only problem I had was when I called customer service to see if they could do anything for me to check if the 8AM bus had left already when I was running late. The lady who I spoke to was extremely rude and said she had no way to contact the bus driver. She could have talked in a nicer way…
Anyways, besides that, I think Boltbus is probably the best way to get from LA to SJ, Oakland or SF, if you’re on a budget! (Meaning you can’t afford to fly).

Last-​minute change of plans found me ditching my Megabus reservation for a Boltbus, which was a few bucks cheaper.
The Boltbus is fairly easy to find, being near the main entrance of Union Station, facing N Alameda St.
The bus and bus driver was nicer and cleaner than those of Megabus, and the seats are leather (?) instead of Megabus’ nasty cloth. Unlike Megabus, Boltbus also has foot rests and trash bags at each row of seats.
Because you put your own luggage on/​off (lots of room for storage because it is single deck instead of Megabus’ double-​deck), your stuff doesn’t get thrown carelessly onto the floor (or in my recent Megabus experience, UNDER THE BUS).
I didn’t use the bathroom on the bus so can’t comment on that.
Wifi wasn’t any better or worse than Mega Bus.
TL;DR — Bolt Bus is way better than Mega Bus

My car broke down a day before going to LA and I needed a mode of transportation. A travel company put be through to bolt bus and I’m sooooo glad they did! The bus was super nice, leather seats, tons of leg room (I’m 5’9) so. Yes lots of leg room. And my service dog was allowed on, with no hassling what so ever. Usually takes 5 hours to drive my car, only took around 5:55 minutes on the bus.
It has a pretty nice bathroom on the bus so that was good, and we stopped in Barstow for food which was even better! Overall… 7 people on the bus. Can’t beat that!
PS: bus driver was awesome.
Take bolt bus… Not **gabus

If you want to save on cost going up north to Oakland, SF, San Jose or South East to Las Vegas… Bolt bus is for you! They were very punctual and actually got me to my destination a little earlier. Take a gander at their website…
for times and availability. Normally they plan out their bus schedules 4 – 6 weeks in advance… So plan accordingly
It’s really cool how every seat has it’s own outlet. Wifi on the bus was horrible. Basically, used data throughout the whole ride there. I’m guessing the signal gets losts when you are driving through the grapevine!
Warning: You might have a hard time sleeping on the bus depending on what driver you get. Going to SF was longest night I ever had. The bus driver was going a little faster and could feel every bump on the road. It doesn’t help much when he would ride the line for long stretches. Overall, I think I had about 30 minutes of sleep out of the 7 and half hour bus ride. Going back was a different story. It was a smoother ride and I actually got some ZzzZzzzz’s.
Would take it again… probably bring a pillow with me next time!

Excelente servicio. Llego a horario. Muy atento el personal. La parada en la Union Station está muy bien señalizada. El bus estaba muy limpio y el wi-​fi funcionaba correctamente. La única contra es que algunos días de la semana tiene pocas frecuencias horarias desde Las Vegas a LA (una sola a las 5 pm)

Very very clean compared to greyhound even though Bolt is affiliated with Greyhound. I believe this may be a little pricier than Greyhound.
Similar concept as Megabus. Takes you to one destination to another that is cheaper than flying. The downside of course is that it takes longer to get to your destination compared to actual flying. But if you are a student or simply on a budget, I would recommend Bolt.
They have very nice and clean leather seats with seat belts that crosses over your body instead of airplane seatbelts.
Clean restroom. There are trashbags at every seating aisle. AC can be adjusted by closing the vent. WIFI is available but not the fastest.
Heading to SF as I am writing this review and driver seems to be a safe driver. Awesome! He also seems really chill and often makes jokes but not that funny. «E» for effort though!

I love the Bolt Bus! Took it to Vegas this past weekend and I paid $ 17 round trip ($ 8 each way plus a $ 1 transaction fee)
THE ROUTE:
Bolt Bus leaves from Union Station and gets on the 10 freeway using the bus lanes and the express lanes so it does avoid a lot of traffic. It catches the 605 to the 210 to the 15 (very roundabout way) and makes 1 stop at Barstow (usually 15 – 20 minute break). Drop off at the Greyhound station on Main (NOTE: Starting January 28, pickup and dropoff location in Las Vegas will be at The Plaza, which is right next door to the Greyhound station.) Bus leaves right on time and got in right on time as well. (Even with traffic!) The trip there took 5 hours and 45 minutes.
Return trip only took 4.5 hours! Always less traffic when leaving Vegas. We got in 5 minutes behind schedule but that’s no biggie.
THE BUS:
Loved it! Only 15 people on the bus on both my trips. Leather seats that recline, individual power outlets, free wifi (which I had trouble connecting to), air conditioning, reading lights, trash bags available, footrests, and bathroom on board. Since the bus was empty, I could stretch out across the row to nap.
Drivers are friendly and average about 70mph when there’s no traffic!
BONUS:
Join the Bolt Bus Rewards programs! Login and purchase your tickets, and your 9^th trip is free!
I will definitely be taking the Bolt Bus again! The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because ticket prices have DOUBLED to Vegas! I checked prices for February 2014 (leaving Friday and coming back Sunday) and tickets are $ 16 each way. Why the sudden jump? Bolt Bus is still the cheapest option and great alternative to driving yourself even with the price jump but I’m still miffed about that insane price hike. Fingers crossed that the prices will go back down again!