Bookaride Reviews 195

The bus is 2 hours late and nobody can provide any information
There is nobody to call
This is irritating
I would not recommend this company to ANYBODY
I’ve had other issues with them in the past as well. They are cheap but not worth it !

Very very unreliable, I booked my ride for 6pm from Ottawa to Toronto and was supposed to get to Scarborough town centre by 10:30pm. There was a breakdown at 7pm , we waited for 3 hours in the bus and no announcements or anything, then they called a bus to drop us at the closest harveys at 10pm . We’ve been waiting here for an hour now and there is still no bus to take us back to Toronto… Horrible horrible customer service and experience, safe your stress and book another agency.

Purchased a ticket for a service that had been discontinued. Despite exchanging with customer service several times, no one alerted me to the fact that Toronto-Montreal service was no longer operating. When I showed up to the bus stop on Bay St to embark, a bus was there idling but no one was in sight. Twenty minutes later (bus idling all the while), I find out from the driver that I need to find another way to get to Montreal. Last minute Megabus ticket cost me twice as much as BookARide. I was refunded only the amount paid to BookARide, not my cost of getting to Montreal. Essentially no consequence for them but I miss a half day of work and paid double the going rate for my ride.

I purchased a bus ticket for February 4 2024, from Toronto Ontario to London Ontario. The ticket I purchased was for a bus that was scheduled to depart at 19:30 EST. As I was preparing to go catch my bus, I noticed a text saying that my bus was going to be arriving late... at 17:15 EST. I assumed this was a mistake, until I checked my email. I had been sent an email the night before saying that my bus time had been changed to 17:00 (with the explanation that this change was to enhance overall efficiency... absolute nonsense). By the time I saw this text and email, it was already 18:45. My bus, which was SUPPOSED TO BE LEAVING AT 19:30, was already gone.

Perhaps if the bus was departing 2.5 hours late, I'd be able to understand. But 2.5 hours EARLY? With barely any notice? This is BEYOND unacceptable. I booked the 19:30 bus for a REASON. I was NOT AVAILABLE at 17:00. This is more than just an "inconvenience", and it absolutely does NOT enhance the experience of my journey (as the email proclaimed).

Upon reading about other people's experiences I've determined that this company is 100% a scam. I've reported them to the Better Business Bureau.

Would leave 0 stars if I could. I'm 100% convinced that all the positive reviews on here are either bots or paid for.

Use at your own discretion.

I've taken busses in Ont. from several companies about 15-20 times in all. Book a Ride is by far the least reliable.

Negative experiences I've had with them:
- often unclear where to wait, with no clear signage. In Jan of 2024, the bus for a trip was completely unmarked.
- I was left behind at the Belleville stop in late 2023 while waiting in a car on a winter day. The bus stopped for (no exaggeration here) 30 seconds at most. I have always been able to wait in a car with other companies and they have always waited for much longer. I contacted them several times for a refund, received messages confirming my email when through, yet did not receive a single reply.
- A loved one who visited me in Jan 2024 and travelled with Book a Ride had no bathroom, wifi, or outlets on both busses for their departing and return trip.
- When dropping off my loved one, I witnessed the bus driver leave behind two people heading in the bus' direction who had to rebook their tickets after being told to appear at the wrong location by Book a Ride.

False advertising on the bus for both my way to and from ottawa. If you're gonna list features like wifi, power outlets, and a toilet, at least include one of them. The driver also left behind two paying customers because they had to come to the 2nd stop because the driver no showed the first stop. To make matters worse, the bus was chugging the whole time and they didnt even schedule my drop off area. I had to uber 30 minutes because of it. Actual joke of a company. Never booking again.

Avoid at all costs...there is a reason 53% of the reviews are 1 star. And most of those would likely be 0 star if that were a choice!

Read their site: no refund if the bus is less than 4 hours late. So if you want to get to the airport 2 hours before your flight, plan to add another 4 hours for (routine, according to them) bookaride delays!

Note, a 'refund' is a return of money to a customer unsatisfied with a service. But when no service at all is provided we have a 'scam'.

And after you are screwed over, customer service is useless. Actually, can something that doesn’t exist be called useless? A point to ponder.

tl;dr DO NOT BOOK WITH THEM,

I was very dissatified with Suzie Drews, she was rude and assumed I was lying before even trying to understand the problem. But then Mathew Ryan joined the chat. He deserves a promotion!
He was so kind and actually cared. He tried to help in every way he could and went above and beyond. I've never had such experince with customer support. He worked on my issue for a very long time to give me the solutiuon that was most beneficial for me.
He is simply amazing at his job.

Rode with them 3 times and all 3 times busses were delayed and the company has terrible communication

I booked a ticket, the bus never come! they don't even reply to my questions when I tried to contact them. No notice for cancelation. It was a totally a scam!

Since their refund policy is “under no circumstances” I have no choice but to write a scathing review. I booked a round trip from Toronto to Montreal. On the way there, they gave me no confirmation of a bus or driver, so I went to the first Book A Ride bus I found, at the same time I was set to leave. The driver, without looking at the location scanned my ticket and let me on. Fast forward three hours, the driver pulls over on the side of the high way and says “none of you are going to Montréal, right ?” Turns out, this bus was actually to Ottawa, and so they had to reroute so I would still get to Mtl. I get picked up in a random town in a random non-descript black van that takes me the rest of the way, an hour later than I had anticipated. Then this morning, apprehensively, I get ready for my venture back. I get to my designated place half an hour early. This time, I do receive notification that I will be picked up in the black van again, hooray! If not for the fact the driver was an hour late, with no notice given whatsoever. Apparently he got stuck in snow, an unforeseen circumstance but made inexcusable by the fact I wasn’t contacted. Thankfully, I met someone taking the same trip as me, we had planned to take a RideShare instead. Until randomly we get a call that the driver has arrived, and picks us up (again, we had no choice, the ride is unrefundable). Overall, horrendous experience, the worst I’ve had on my travels. I would not recommend using this company unless you are desperate. There is no where to contact anyone, they do not keep you up to date, their so called tracking software did not work (at least for my trips). I am so beyond disappointed.

Quick response for my concerns.
Drivers are respectful and helpful.
They try their best to move on time.
And I love their promotions.

My bus was for 10am, it’s 11h40 I gave up,

And the customer service is inexistant. Tracking number doesn’t work. I have to book with another company, book a ride never again

First bus to Toronto never showed up (on Christmas Eve!). On the trip back, the first bus’s bathroom was easily the filthiest I’ve ever encountered on bus or train, and then the second bus was 4 hours late. The driver promised us refunds, and here I am a week later with no refund or apology. DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY

Hi I have been waiting for the bus for over an hour. There is no way to contact book a ride and they are always late. Last time as well the bus was more than 45 mins late. Even the tracking system doesn't work and I have no clue what to do now. Please improve your customer services. This is seriously horrible!! Not at all recommended

I booked a ticket from pearson Airport to ottawa from busbud, reached 30 minutes before departure at designated location, no bus arrived, I had transfer through same provider after 45 mins, that'd why I had to rush to downtown to catch the transfer, there was no one at airport to guide, no customer service number and when I send them an email they don't reply and shut down my ticket every 3 days. They didn't paid me foe travel from airport to Toronto downtown which they had charged almost $22.. worst ever service I wish could sue them. Every time they would reply that they would investigate and get back but won't do anything, I would suggest them to give a customer service number that is functional.

Do not book with them I'm usually not the one to write bad reviews but this experience forced me to , my sister was waiting for bus for almost three hours and the tracking link was not working no support. Due which we were faced by endless hussle and to not miss her Flight. They are not taking responsibility for their business,very bad Experience and Disappointed.

David is best. Easy to talk and understand issue quickly. Love his service

This was the worst experience with a bus I have ever had. My bus didn't show up! When I called the number on the website I got a "we are having technical difficulties" message, even after I tried more than once. I had to submit several tickets requesting a refund, and the tickets kept getting cancelled. No recourse whatsoever. Do NOT book with this company!

Worst bus experience I ever had. Not only did the bus not come, but the ticket complaint system is a joke. My complaint kept getting cancelled and I have not been able to recoup my money back. They straight up stole from me. I will never book with them again and you shouldn’t either