peachtreeVoyager
Oct 2019
The proper way to visit New York city is through its subway. But if you are short on time or unable to walk everywhere then Big Bus is a good option. I haven't used the other hop-on hop-off services. So can't compare apples to apples.
If you start your tour from stop no. 1, you should be ok. There will be agents to sell you tickets or verify your passes. If you want to board(start) from any other stop then you have to look out for them. There is no definitive sign to identify them. We started our tour from stop no 13 (Battery Park). I was looking for the sign when the nearby street vendor pointed me towards two men standing near the subway wall. I went to them and validated my pass and got the tickets. Once you get a hang of it, it becomes much easier.
We took the downtown tour and it was nice. Our tour guides (3 buses in total) were informative and witty. That made the tour enjoyable. The city traffic will not allow the bus to move faster and that helps you a lot as a tourist. The history and architecture of the buildings, different churches, monuments were informative and enjoyable. We got down at two different place and got back on without any difficulty. Being October, the buses were not crowded.
All in all it's a fun thing to do. My only suggestion is if they could upgrade the seats. They were generally inclining downward. So they make you slide down all the time. Other than that it was good.