firstbus.co.uk Reviews 76

Complete disregard for people who work - buses turn up WHEN and IF they want - drivers who behave as if they are doing you a favour - extortionate prices.

If this was in France half your fleet would have been already on fire. You being in business if proof of how corrupt councils can be.

Bought a ticket, then couldn't do my journey. Asked for a refund on their website. They told me I should have asked this to driver. Then why do they have this refund request on their website? Completely poor customer service.
My ref: 01209068

First bus Bristol. They have been on strike for a few days. So say, two weeks in October. Why not three weeks in November and four weeks in December???? People have managed either with scooters taxis or friends given them lifts or work from home. The public have managed. I wonder whether all the passengers will return to the buses? Maybe.......maybe not! How about some of the drivers could take customer service refresher courses during the strike. Just a thought.

Firstly I know writing this review is pointless as first bus bristol will just ignore it and do nothing about it, beacuase that is just what they do , but I will write it anyway.
They have dangerous and unsafe vehicles on the road, in the form of these new and extremely dangerous electric bus.
They have fallen into the trap , off putting eco nonsense rubbish, ahead off , safety, price and reliability, which are far more importantly than anything else , but first bus bristol, don't care about , any off that .
They have a customer service team , who are some off the most incompetent people, I have ever contacted.
They blame you for the incidents , they are rude and insulting, I don't want to call any individual out as they are all as bad as each others.
But milo is the one who has contacted me most , he is just completely unfit to do his job .
And now they have the nerve to go on strike , wow , they are all completely overpaid as it is .
They inconvenience passengers when the buses are running, now they have made it twice as bad now they have ho on strike .
Unbelievable.
I don't believe for one minute, I will get a response from anyone at first bus , because as I say they just ignore everything .
So this review was a complete waste off time .
But it needs to be written anyway.

Many thanks ! .

Craig Thatcher.

The 235 bus suddenly stops, we were told that we are not moving for the next 5 mins, this is to regulate the service. No consideration given to those on the bus, we are struggling to get to work on time. This is not a one off occurrence but a daily one. Utter shambles...do the bus company care? I think not...

I was running towards a 22 bus in Canvey island to go to Benfleet with my hand out to show i needed to catch it as i got near the door the driver shut the doors and drove off it was blatantly obvious to the other people that i was flagging him down drivers like him are a disgrace and should not be employed

I have given feedback on the firstbus.co.uk portal but unfortunately it is only at the end that they tell you they will not respond. I'm left feeling, it's unlikely to be taken seriously. So I can have the satisfaction of putting a Google review instead.
We had a lovely weekend break in Leeds and started our trip with a bus ride on the 229 into Leeds. We were staying at the Elland Road Premier Inn. The bus took us nicely to the central station. At the end of the day we returned to the bus station to catch the bus back, only to find the 229 had been cancelled. No explanation, no advice. We looked at the map and the closest route back was the 52. We boarded it in due course. Our closest stop was Heath Mount and we asked the driver to two tickets. His ignorant and dismissive response was "I don't stop there", so we asked if he went to Elland Road "never heard of it" was his response. Thankfully one of the other passengers explained that the bus does go to Elland Road and then it sunk in and he agreed that he did go there. We got off at Elland Road and walked for 3/4 of an hour back to our hotel. The driver may have been intending to ruin our weekend, well he didn't, but he's clearly in the wrong job. Suggest you look at your ticket and if at all possible avoid conversing with driver number 423312.

This is for the Firstbus Glasgow and the customer service:
I think I had a return ticket, £17, for the 500 service to/from the airport. Buying the ticket wasn't straightforward as the 500 service is in a separate region from Greater Glasgow. Going from the airport was easy, and on that leg of the hour, I had no issues - very smooth and quick service to central Glasgow.
Despite a live barcode, the return ticket wasn't accepted on the bus and flagged as “expired.” For my return trip, I had to buy a single journey ticket for £11. The bus driver wasn't the most helpful, but the ticket booth staff at the airport was. The lady at the booth scanned my “expired” return ticket and deemed it working, then advised me to use the app to report the incident.
The app is horrible, and finding a way to contact is painful so email anyone you find online.
So, one week later and it's resolved -they “have requested a refund on the single ticket that was purchased as a goodwill gesture” … a goodwill gesture??? They only got the second star for the ticket booth lady, and if they (Milo from customer service) hadn't referred to it as “goodwill,” they would have gotten another one.

532961 driver ash is a good cheerful driver always a cheerful and careful driver she is nice to all customers and is respect to everyone she works for first bus bradford at bowling back lane depot she a good driver very nice and very lovely and friendly with passenger and everyone

I will never understand why people who don't like dealing with the public get jobs dealing with the public. The bus driver on the number 12 to littlesea caravan park obviously needs to go on an intensive people skills course. 11 million people not working in the UK and management can only get this bloke.

I've had several poor experiences with this company across the country over recent years, all handled badly, eg re overcharging, often not turning up... but the bus I was riding on in Suffolk swerved and crashed into a tree. I was one of those with most impact as the entire glass shattered all over me. I was and am very distressed and I am still trying to gain justice. My details of my complaint were passed to a 3rd party without permission and they have been cold and avoidant for nearly 3 months, adding to my trauma.

They make claims about laws regarding such a claim, but when I repeatedly asked for links/references (such laws if they exist are likely to be unlawful) they didn't reply. They took over 2 months to show the redacted CCTV which conveniently misses off the main impact and the glass all over the top deck. Although I have been firm, they have been slow (deliberately, it's believed) and downplaying, changing my subject lines each time and using subtle tactics to undermine. They've not even as much as refunded the ticket of that day, and I've not exactly received after care. Bus Users are aware and they didn't verify the above alleged regulations, which if true mean that the government has sponsored extra trauma for victims and made it very hard to gain justice. This needs scrutiny.

I fear I'll not cope with another bus journey and I'm unwilling to pay First until they suitably compensate me. They admit that their terms are not there to support customer rights and their charter tries to let them dodge repeated no shows and other basic issues.

It is time this over-prevalent company is held to account

Many thanks to The Controller at Fareham bus station. The exit from the bus station was blocked by a broken-down bus. We were all waiting at stop L for the X4 to Southampton. It apparently, and unknown to us passengers, was waiting at the other end of the crowded bus station. When the broken-down bus was cleared, the busses started leaving the bus station normally. However, our X4 ignored us passengers waiting at the designated bus stop L and drove straight past us out of the bus station. When approached, The Controller assured us the driver had shouted from the other end of the busy bus station. Obviously, myself and the other half a dozen or so passengers waiting at stop L had not heard this. At this point, The Controller appeared to commandeer a spare bus. We all boarded the spare bus which chased and caught up with the errant bus which was waiting for us at a distant bus stop. We all transferred to our proper X4 and were able to complete our respective journeys as planned.

Firstbus Aberdeen - very poor timetable planning - different bus times published on the firstbus app, bustimes dot org, and the bus shelter displayed timetable all makes planning a journey impossible, perhaps firstbus dont expect customers to plan journeys? Firstbus needs to employ more expertise in scheduling and take lessons from other operators like Flix, Ember etc who appear to be able to run a timetable effectively. I've e mailed firstbus previously to complain but it's just met with indifference, almost apathy. I guess they're still in business as demand is there fir a service, albeit a very poor one which lets the people of Aberdeen down badly.

Misleading information on the weekly and monthly tickets. Looks like you can travel all over South West Wales when in reality to Gower and Cardiff it is other companies. Expensive tickets. No service on Sunday between Port Talbot and Swansea. Literally NO service. Shocking. Driver attitude to be fair has improved a little in this region (Swansea and Port Talbot / Neath). It used to be shocking but now they are friendlier and more helpful. The one star review relates to the bad-faith and misleading advertising for weekly and monthly tickets. Thank goodness we did not buy the monthly!

I would like to warn all job seekers not to join Firstbus Co as the Management is a real Mafia, where too many workers are fired with false accusations by pervert Managers who have been imposing their low wishes for years like dictators.

The Hullbridge bus is regular, punctual and this mornings driver named Gareth was the best one so far. He said a cheerful hello to EVERY passenger and I was on the bus all the way to Southend. Consistent with every customer and alot had smiles on their faces after talking to him. Praise where praise is due! Well done Gareth

Charlatans, cap off peak travel fees but if you embark a wrong bus they sting you for extra fees. How, seriously? Stick to what you advertise.

23 bus late again, supposed to arrive at Purland Road stop at 07.32. Arrived at 07.45, another 23 bus passed us on the heartsease estate. Totally incompetent company, can Norwich council use a better bus company instead.

Fraud. Don’t use their tap on tap off service. It double charged me for a fare due to the driver swapping buses mid journey and they won’t admit any fault. An hour on the phone and several emails later I still haven’t been refunded. They just keep asking for more card and bank details and for information I have already sent them. They have offered me a free ticket on a system I don’t use as a gesture of goodwill which is useless to me. If you use them be sure to check your bank transactions.

Totally unreliable. Useless company