Since we have a relative visiting from Southern California and because a hop on hop off bus tour has long been on our staycation bucket list, this Labor Day weekend, we decided to book a tour of San Francisco through Big Bus.
While we had fun overall, we did experience the following hiccups:
– Both their website and their mobile app listed the wrong pickup location, so it wasn’t until (after waiting over 30 minutes) we called them that we learned the actual location was north of Golden Gate Park rather than south of it.
– There was no live guide on the first bus we were on and the driver was less than friendly / helpful.
– In theory their audio guide is a good idea. It has multiple channels with the first channel being the live guide and the other channels being prerecorded explanations in a variety of different languages. However, it was hit and miss whether the ear buds worked with the plug in devices (located at each seat). And when you did get it to work, the audio would sometimes cut in and out and you would have to wiggle or twist the plug to get it back.
– We did have a live guide on our last bus. He had memorized the dialog but could not deviate from the prescribed order. Sometimes he would lose his place in his canned tour speech and have to repeat entire paragraphs that he just said two minutes prior.
All that said, if you set your expectations low, it can be a fun experience and it was neat to see the sights of our hometown from a new vantage point, the open top of a double-decker bus.
NB: I have not personally experienced the other hop on hop off bus options in San Francisco, such as CitySightseeing or City Cable Cars.
