This is my second time using Big Bus, the first in London last year and they did an amazing job. Naturally, we wanted to use them again for San Fran.
This is truly a great way to get around the city and have an all encompassing 1 or 2-day journey through a new area. Buying our tix and planning our tour were a simple process but we had some frustrations worth noting:
1) The buses do not seem to follow any kind of an actual schedule. They ranged from 10 to 40 minutes apart at every stop which can seem like an eternity when you're sitting in silence waiting.
2) Half of the guides and drivers were downright rude or disrespectful. The other half were amazing, friendly, and had a wealth of knowledge. The bad half had eye-rolls to people getting on the bus, annoying commentary, poor advice, and dangerous driving. One driver literally gunned it through 3 reds on one loop around the city, getting plenty of middle fingers from other drivers.
3) The worst was on our Sausalito tour. The two drivers working the loop from the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito told the passengers the other one is bad at their job and couldn't keep a schedule. They literally both ran on their own schedule, complained about the other driver the entire time and used plenty of profanity in the process. An older couple accidentally boarded our bus instead of another company that looks the same and the driver berated them for 2-3 minutes in front of the bus, it was incredibly uncomfortable.
I'm glad I used Big Bus because I took in the city, but they need to really think about revamping their team.