There were several issues that provided a less than ideal experience. First, part of the reason we chose the bus was to get info about the city landmarks. There was no live guide on the bus, and it was only toward the end of the day that we realized there were jacks for earphones to plug into, and there may have been a recording that provided some info, but no one told us. If we were supposed to get on at Stop 14 to get all of this info )and maybe even earbuds?), that should be made more clear in the promotional materials.
Also, the driver seemed to not know what to do with the QR code we presented on out phones when we first hopped on the bus at Stop 7. Last, the busses seemed to spend a lot of time at Stop 14 in a cluster, rather than be spread out at any kind of interval. The app shows where all the busses are, so that helps, but there was no rhyme or reason. In the end, we walked from Stop 3 (Empire State Bldg) to Stop 7 (~40 blocks) just so we didn’t waste time on our vacation and seeing the sights by waiting around for a bus. Toward the end of the day, we finally decided we would see how long it took. We waited 20+ minutes for the bus to arrive. I know traffic is an issue, but even at 5pm it wasn’t that heavy that our. Driver had any issues once we’re on it, so not sure why it was tough for any other driver/bus. Had I known we would wind up getting so little, I would not have paid $88 for my wife and I to essentially just get a ride from Soho to Times Square.