Busforus Reviews 4

Worst hop on hop off bus service I’ve ever used! Dave your money and get the local buses and trams as you will spend less and see more. Most of the time was spent waiting for the bus or sat in traffic. Very little commentary, if you could find a working headphone port that is! The bus was so busy you rarely got a seat it was a joke! Wish I hadn’t bothered!

Aside from the cost (well over £100 for two), this is an unexciting tour, mainly of traffic jams (the evening ride particularly). The on board commentary didn’t seem to work on many on the seats, and internet too was sporadic. The advertised snack and ‘hygiene kit’ was not offered and staff (not all!) seemed baffled by simple questions. Unless you were sat at one of the on board screens there was no announcement of stops and the actual route was baffling (I heard several complaints). In summary travellers are STRONGLY advised to give this a miss and use trams, buses and taxis instead to save time, money and waits of up to an hour at stops. The 2-hour Bosporus trip WAS good - but can be booked separately for,I expect, the same or lower cost. I have been on many hop on/off buses in world cities and am sad to say this was by far the worst.

A number of people boarded the bus at the cruise terminal this morning. We waited on the bus for about 15 minutes while a number of staff members and bus drivers had various discussions getting on and off the bus - quite chaotic. During this time another bus arrived, filled up and left. The bus scheduled to depart at 10:30 eventually departed at 10:45. My husband and I planned to take the bus to eventually arrive in the Sultanahmet area (stop1or stop 12) to visit Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace. We had been on the bus for 1.5 hours when we got to the 11th stop. The bus sat for probably 10 mins with about 25 people on board. The driver had a conversation with a man not dressed in company uniform on the pavement. The people on the bottom of the bus were then told that the bus was terminating at stop 11 and going back to the beginning. One of the passengers then went to the top level of the bus and advised the other passengers that the bus was terminating. The bus staff made no attempt to inform them It would not be going to stop 12 or Stop 1 supposedly because of a cycling race in Sultanahmet. We were told we would have to take the tram/ metro to reach Sultanahmet area - at an additional cost to us! I paid €120 for two day tickets and feel that I have been misled. If there was a race on then bus staff should have known this and advised passengers that stops 1 and 12 were not on the circuit for today instead they said nothing and stole our money. We were left at bus stop 11 with the option of taking a tram or going back to stop 4. So most of us didn’t even get a full circuit for our €40 each. My husband and I walked back to our cruise ship annoyed and disillusioned - our planned day wrecked by incompetence and dishonesty. I haven’t validated my ticket for tomorrow and am concerned that the bus may terminate unexpectedly at any point before we get to where we plan to go. We have only two days in Istanbul and one was wasted by the bus company not being honest about its services. We had been looking forward to visiting Istanbul and our experience has been tarnished by today’s events. This is a tourist service essentially and tourists are being treated very poorly, having their money taken without being provided with the service the company advertises. The staff are not interested in the plight of those who are effectively paying their wages. I have made many attempts to get a full or even a partial refund but have been refused. This mob is a bunch of thieves. Steer clear.