Campus-to-Campus Executive Coach Service

I used to love Campus to Campus but I will probably never use them again. On Wed Sept 23 they sent me an email canceling my Sat Sept 26 reservation for no apparent reason; they said that due to «unavoidable circumstances we are unable to provide service». They refunded my ticket, but there was NO explanation, and when I wrote to ask for one there was no response. No suggestion for what alternative bus to take. I made a reservation for the next day, Sunday, and later cancelled it when I found an alternative service: Big Red Bullet. Campus to Campus charged me $ 10 to cancel my Sunday reservation and gave me no response when I asked for that to be credited. Basically, it seems they can fill there busses and so they don’t care at all about customer satisfaction.
Big Red Bullet was less luxurious, but much less expensive, and best of all, reliable! Go Big Red!

This is in my opinion the only way to travel between NYC and Ithaca, NY. Super Equipment (32 Seat Custom Cornell Buses). Nice bathroom, small kitchen in the rear, Satellite WiFi, safe drivers.

Yes, the perks, including free snacks, wifi that more or less functions, and spacious seats, are nice. But the price point is insane. $ 180 for a round trip would get you from London to a Mediterranean beach destination on a discount airline like Ryanair or EasyJet; it’s not justifiable for a bus trip between Ithaca and NYC.
The true perk offered by Campus-​to-​Campus is direct, nonstop service. A trip to NY from Ithaca can and should last no longer than 3.5 hours, as a trip on C-​to-​C does. On the only affordable alternative, the more reasonably priced Shortline Bus, meandering routes and unnecessary stops often means it takes over 5.
Consider this a desperate plea for some entrepreneur to step in and offer direct, nonstop service between Ithaca and NY at Shortline rates. You don’t need perks, just get the trip over with in a reasonable amount of time! Offer a few trips a day and every bus would be full.
Barring that, it wouldn’t hurt for Cornell to step in and subsidize this service — or a lower-​grade nonstop version — if it wants to help make its campus more accessible to the rest of the world. And while they’re add it, they can add a few more trips a day; it’s ridiculous how early the three daily departures book up, simply because there are only so many massive luxury seats you can stick on one bus.

I’ve had pleasant experiences on the C2C having traveled to New York several times (maybe 6 or 7 total using this service). The wifi is very subpar– you can just about get away with checking email and streaming music if the bus is half-​full, but forget about doing anything approaching work that requires looking things up often, or streaming Netflix. On the other hand, the bus seats are as comfortable as can be for such a long ride, and the bus drivers have always been professional. It is also amazing to be able to get your own seat if you travel alone. The snacks are a nice touch, although if you travel more than a couple times you get bored of everything except perhaps the coffee and fresh fruit.
All in all, I don’t mind paying a higher price point for consistent comfort and a quiet ride, although the wifi is pretty shit for the amount you’re paying and the length of the trip.

Cons: the fact that they advertise wifi is dishonest. The 4 times I have taken this bus, ²⁄₄ times the wifi did not work at all. Out of the other two times the wifi took 30 minutes to load gmail and text based webpages, and the other time basic webpages took 10 minutes to load. There is no way you will be able to stream any video (youtube, netflix, amazon) on this bus. So basically «NO WIFI» on this bus; don’t expect getting any work done that requires an internet connection.
Pros: The snack bar that has kurig coffee, juice, soda, chips, cookies and oranges is a nice touch, but they do run out of the more popular items early, so grab what you want before taking a seat. This bus has a lot more leg room than a typical bus or plane. The seats are very comfortable and their is lots of storage. Power outlets to charge your laptop work (unlike the wifi). You can reserve a seat that is not next to another passenger and you can also sit at a very large table if you want to get a bunch of work done. The staff is also very courteous and so are the other riders. An especially nice touch in the winter is the wooden closet for your garment bags and expensive coats.
With the price increase last year, you’d expect a wifi upgrade. It is not (in my opinion) a true premium bus without it. So basically the bus will be worth the added money for people who put a premium on comfort, just don’t consider their advertised wifi as a reason to take this bus.

This bus service is an excellent experience and a pretty good value. It is about twice the cost of other bus services, but you are getting an awful lot, as outlined by Tommy W.
I found the drivers to be extremely courteous and friendly, the wifi and power outlets to be insanely useful, and the little free snack bar in the back to be a nice touch. I can’t overstate the value of being able to get a seat to yourself if you are traveling alone, as well. The people traveling on these buses are overall well-​mannered and they respect the quiet environment on the bus as well. Heck, you don’t even get that half the time on more expensive modes of travel like airlines.
The trip does take a while, but if you can’t afford to fly from Ithaca to NYC, I really think you can’t beat this service.

A total nightmare. A broken down bus and zero accurate communication about what was happening. Passengers were given the option of taking the broken-​down bus anyhow, but were told the ride would last a few extra hours — it was only once we were stranded hours from anywhere that we were told we’d be arriving after 3am. Many of us would never have gotten on the bus to begin with if they’d told us what was going on. Drivers were flustered and utterly uncommunicative. Company management gave Cornell club staff totally incorrect information. Totally unacceptable.

Horrible. The way to the city was great, but we got a severe asshole driving us back. The story is below if you’re interested in reading through it:
I made reservations for my mom and I to take the C2C bus round trip between Ithaca and NYC. The trip to the city went smoothly, but the return trip was horrible. We needed to get off at the first stop in Ithaca at the Cornell Oxley Equestrian Center. When the bus stopped, there was no announcement verifying the location, but several experienced travelers got off quickly and had no luggage underneath the bus to collect. Since I just had a surgery the same morning at the Cornell Medical Center, I wasn’t able to lift anything heavy, and my mom had to get both of our bags and the two coolers we brought with us. We had these items under our seats, plus our coats in an overhead compartment. Since we were in the very back row on this trip, there was no overhead compartment above our seats and we had to look to see which one we put them in.
About 2 minutes later (while we were both standing in the aisle), that the bus driver shut off the lights and slammed the bus into reverse. It was so unexpected and so fast, I wasn’t holding onto anything, so the acceleration twisted my upper body very hard. Just for reference to how painful this was for me, I wasn’t able to rotate my torso at all that day, I wasn’t even able to reach my arm behind my back to put on my jacket since the surgery was on my side. This pain was so severe that I was left shaking the rest of the evening and in major pain all night. Even though the original bleeding had stopped that afternoon, there was more bleeding through the night and next day because of it. As soon as the bus started moving backward, I screamed in the otherwise completely silent bus for the driver to «STOP!,» «WAIT!,» and «THIS IS OUR STOP!» but the driver chose to keep ignoring me. I had to run to the front of the bus, which caused me to trip over a step I didn’t know about (as the lights were off and it was completely dark outside that late at night), causing even more pain. I pleaded with the driver to stop again and he yelled me, saying that he would not stop there. He finally did stop somewhere, not exactly at our stop and opened the door. My mom came behind me with all our luggage as we were thrown off the bus on the side of the road. He wouldn’t even turn the lights on and my mom made a comment to the driver that she couldn’t even see if we were able to get all of our stuff! There was no response to that comment from the driver. Then we drove home and I cried all night from the severe pain that had been caused by the bus driver’s unsafe driving practice.
After sending a email complaint to Cornell transportation services, somebody called my mom to say that HE was the bus driver that night as well as «the manager» of the C2C bus system (we were asking to be allowed to complain about the situation to the manager) He apologized but offered no contact information for his supervisor. His apology was meaningless. Not only did he know exactly what he was doing that night, but he wasn’t willing to be accommodating even after we pleaded with him (which we never should have had to do!), but his claim to my mom today on the phone that he didn’t see anybody in the aisle is also a major lie, as we were BOTH standing up in the aisle. It would have been clear to him that two passengers were standing in the aisle if he looked as he is claiming. For both of our tickets, we spent $ 330 to be severely abused by this bus driver and treated like dirt, post-​surgery!
I did finally get in contact with the business manager of Caz Limos (Cornell apparently hires from Syracuse to run their C2C buses). He told me that he reviewed the tape from that night and didn’t see anybody fall – so are far as they are concerned, they did nothing wrong. I was stunned. I never claimed that I fell but the pain was definitely real. He added that watching the video, he wanted to know why we would have taken so long to get off the bus! Even though I had already explained that I had a surgery earlier that day! I’m amazed at how poor the customer service was, even trying to turn the blame on me and that we had it coming to us, and that neither Cornell nor Caz Limos cared to take any responsibility for what happened.

Campus to Campus bus with service to/​from NYC beats the hell out of your other bus alternative, Shortline Bus. It doesn’t matter that it’s more than 50% pricier. Why?
1) Leather seats
2) WiFi and power outlets
3) Snacks and drinks/​coffee
4) No f’ing stops in hick towns along the way
4.5) Zero probability of sitting next to an overweight redneck unlike with Shortline Bus
I get on at central campus (between Sage and Statler) and get off at the Cornell Club at East 44^th and 5^th, near Grand Central. Now I’m not one to take a bus, but this ain’t no bus. It’s an executive coach service that’s well worth the $ 75 one-​way, $ 150 round-​trip fare.