Big Bus Company

I think the Big Bus is great. My wife and I used our tickets to the max, we went on two of the walking tours (guard change and the pub one) used the bus to hop and off and even went on a boat trip. Now I am not saying we did not have any difficulties (like traffic and hard to understand Russian guide) but it was the best £48 I have spent in a long time.

p.s. to all the people who said it was bad, give them a second chance

I brought my visitors on the big bus tour thinking it would be great for children. Well, they made us get on and off at several stops with much waiting time between buses. We had 5 children with us who were not happy. At Hyde Park, we were told to get off the bus, get in a queue and then they tried to sell us other tickets to tourist attractions. We waited quite a while for the bus with the live tour guide. When it came, it was a stampede to get on the bus with much pushing and shoving. It was difficult to keep track of five children. The tour guide was okay although overall I did not feel like I learned much about London because of this tour. Also, at some of the stops, the ticket sellers would get on the bus and complain to the driver about other ticket sellers. At one point I complained as she was using many four letter words in front of my three and six year old!

The best part about paying for this ticket was the boat tour. We did have a little trouble finding where the boat left from but once we did, it was no problem. The "tour guide" on the boat was the best, very animated and interesting. The kids enjoyed this the most.

Just a short note for future UK travelers; during our visit in March, 2006, we bought tickets, 19 pounds each, for the Big Bus Company in London in order to obtain an overview, then plan out our itinerary. First off, upon purchasing the tickets we were notified that they were the only company on that street that was of English origin, then we were asked whether we would tack on additional charges for specific venues, and once we were on the bus, we were asked to transfer twice to different buses. To add to the ordeal, half of the upper deck seats had earphone malfunctions and the bus tended to sit at stops for extended lengths of time. We finally realized the delay in the travel and the transfer to different buses enabled the company to fill the buses. I would not recommend this company for future visitors as it felt like we were herded back and forth, like a flock of unsuspecting sheep. We actually ended up walking, while we referenced our maps and utilized the local taxi service which was much more friendly and efficient.