New York is a feeling, not a city ❤ 🙂 ! Every time we visited the glam city, NYC, it has been a wonderful experience. Except for the cautionary tale we want to share about the one and only bad experience we had: Top View Hop On Hop Off Bus service. We feel compelled to share it with fellow travelers who might be considering the same option 😦 .

As a traveler, there’s nothing more exciting than the prospect of exploring a new city in comfort, especially if you are traveling with elderly and kids, and hop-on hop-off buses are often touted as the perfect way to do just that. You get to see all the major sights, without the hassle of navigating unfamiliar public transportation or dealing with taxis.

Hop On, but never Hop Off

Top View promises an easy and flexible way to tour major landmarks, offering multiple routes, frequent stops, and a chance to hop off and explore at your own pace. It’s a tempting prospect for anyone trying to squeeze the most out of their visit to a city—especially when you’re limited on time and energy. Their map is pretty good too.

The concept of these buses is simple and appealing: pay once, and then ride the bus as much as you like, hopping off at attractions and landmarks that interest you. It’s meant to be an stress-free way to experience the city from the top of a double-decker bus. Sounds great, right?

Instead of a guide on board, the commentary is an audio that runs in the background. It’s hard to focus while enjoying the views around. It’s a very DIY way of understanding the significance of building around you and most importantly what stop is coming next. We missed our intended stops multiple times. We were left to gaze out the window in silence, unsure of what landmarks we were even passing. They have no clear way of telling the tourists which is the next stop coming up. Getting down at the correct stop is a hit or a miss.

Over Sell, Under Delivered service

As soon as you reach somewhere near Time Square area, there will be a lot of sales staff promising the best bus service to go around – bargaining and selling hard the 55$++ per pax charges to get on for a full day pass. Considering the price of the ticket, which is far from cheap, we expected a higher quality of service when on board. We fell for the trap, but were extremely disappointed with the service.

Buses Not Running on Time

Another glaring issue was the infrequent buses. The advertised “frequent departures” turned out to be a complete exaggeration. At one of the stops, we waited for over 30 minutes for a bus to arrive, and when it did, the driver seemed oblivious to the fact that we were all standing there after a long day of sight seeing, with no updates or apologies.

The lack of clear schedules made planning my day more stressful than it needed to be. With no Apps/ updates from driver to show the actual ETA for the buses, we were clueless when the next empty bus will come at the stop. At times, it felt as though the buses were running on their own unpredictable timetable, making it impossible to rely on them to get around efficiently.

Inconsistent Routes and Limited Stops

One of the most frustrating aspects of my experience was the inconsistency in routes. While the map provided at the start was clear about the major attractions the bus should pass, the actual routes seemed to change without notice. I’d get off at one stop, only to find that the next bus arriving wouldn’t go the way I thought it would, or wouldn’t stop at an attraction I had planned to visit.

Even worse, some stops were skipped entirely on certain buses. A fellow passenger and I realized that the stop we had been waiting for wasn’t even included on the driver’s route, and when we asked the driver why, he simply shrugged. It seemed like a huge lack of coordination between the different routes and drivers, and left us feeling like we were wasting time and money.

No space on buses

This was the worst! After paying around 500$ for our entire group, there was no space available on the buses to accommodate us. We waited for the buses for nearly 30 min, but none of them had the space, and none of the drivers told us of any ETAs for the next bus. Unfortunately, we ended up taking taxis to get to our next spot. So, hop on but never, hop off. You would not be able to hop on again.

Conclusion: Not Worth the Hassle

In the end, my experience with Top View Hop-On Hop-Off Bus was disappointing, to say the least : from poor customer service and lack of communication to inconsistent schedules. It’s a far cry from the stress-free, enjoyable sightseeing experience I was hoping for.

If you’re considering using Top View as your way to explore a city, we strongly recommend looking into other alternatives. There are plenty of other hop-on hop-off services out there that maintain higher standards of professionalism, timeliness and customer care. Don’t let your sightseeing experience be ruined by a company that’s more focused on selling tickets than delivering the service it promises. It’s unfortunate, because with a little more effort and attention to detail, Top View could easily offer the experience they advertise.

Have you had a similar experience with Top View or another hop-on hop-off service? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!