Academy Bus

If I could give 0 stars, I would. I thought other people were exaggerating — they weren’t. They overbooked the 10:00 bus to AC by almost 25 people, didn’t let us on and didn’t explain anything and didn’t offer a refund. Why can’t they get another bus? Sucks.

I pay $ 425 a MONTH to take the bus daily from Monmouth Rest area to Manhattan, which is already a sin. What makes it worse, is that this bus provider is consistently terrible. From bus drivers who don’t know their scheduled arrival times, buses that don’t show at all, buses that get cancelled, and bus drivers who just plain can’t drive, it’s never a surprise when things go wrong, because it happens daily. For example, I’m currently waiting in line at Port Authority after a long week on a Friday, when all one really wants, is to get home as soon as possible. They cancelled my bus, without warning or notice. I have been waiting in line for an hour for the 7pm, and no surprise, it’s late. Academy, please show respect to your customers, who pay you more than what a beautiful car and car payment would be, to get treated like scum. Don’t forget, we are who keep you in business.

We got to AC before scheduled, during rush hour. So that was awesome. They are reliable in my eyes. Will ride again.

Stood on the bus for 3 hours from Atlantic City to Port Authority. The bus should stop at Harrah’s resort at 8pm, then stop at Taj Mahah at 8:15pm. We wanted to be sure to have seats so we waited at Harrah’s resort, which should be the first stop, but the bus didn’t come at all. When we called them, they said they already left from Taj Mahah and the bus is full. The bus came back and pick us up at 8:50pm. There were 8 people waiting at Harrah’s resort but only 6 seats left so we stood on the bus. The attitude of the bus company was terrible, even threatened to call the police, and didn’t gave us the money back.

Six hours to get to Atlantic city Soooooo disappointed our bus to Atlantic city was scheduled to leave at 1pm. I got to the port authority at 11:45 am to get all the info and lines with hopes of doing things without to much hassle or rush of being late. I get on line and the cashiers were changing shifts at the ticket window by gate one checked printed my tickets that was ok she didn’t tell us the 1 o’clock bus was canceled they had a one paper in pink marker stating the bus was canceled and come a 2pm so still I was optimistic and thought well it’s just n hour I’ll go get lunch right up stairs n use the bathroom. I get back a lot of ppl where there so I worried cause the line was extremely big I thought to my self all these ppl will fit on this one bus I went back to the ticket window and the cashier assured me no worries be cause we had bought tickets in advance and had a reservation. Ok so I patiently sat down and waited so finally the bus pulls in at 1:55pm and the bus driver calls all reserved ticket guest first to board the bus so we go to him he checks our tickets and we proceed to put our luggage in the storage bunker and go on the bus to sit. Eventually as all the ppl are getting on I hear a lot of angry disagreements from the other ppl boarding and the issue seemed to be academy was putting two different bus time guest all into that one 2pm bus. Smh. So we are know sitting in the back vicinity of the bus patiently waiting to get on the road and the bus driver comes to the back of the bus and says I’m sorry but I need three ppl to get up we have reserved guest that need to be on this bus. So he then asks who came one this bus at port authority stop a Bunch of us raise our hands but I didn’t panic cause we too had reservation n then he proceeds to say I need three ppl to get off. No one volunteered. So he said ppl don’t make me pick. So a second later he tells me my husband sister n brother in law to get up. I kindly reinforced that we had reservation he put his cap to the the side and said not my problem. I was devastated we go back n forth pleading for our stop he addressed us very rudely and said take the three pm bus (which was late super hot n no bathroom) opposed to the bus we were ready on had to go get our luggage I went the the ticket window again and asked if she can kindly explain to the bus driver that we are reserved and had been there before all of the other guest she rudely said no and that she can’t do nothing I was shocked cause I was super nice opposed to all the other irrational guest she had to deal with just due the the rescheduling from 1pm to 2pm so I asked for a supervisor and i was told there wasn’t one and we got to Atlantic city at 6:30 pm n we had special dinner reservation at 7pm on the other side of Atlantic city and with not even checking in to our hotel yet. Thanks bus driver for making my first experience the worst travel transportation ever 1 star only because I got to Ac and that’s it

The price for a monthly pass is over $ 300! That’s almost a monthly payment on my car. The buses leave early from the pick up locations and they arrive late close to every day. How are they still in business you ask? They have no competition so they treat their customers however they like.

We chartered 2 coach buses for our wedding. The buses were nice, new, and clean. The drivers were professional. The main reason I used them was because they are local in Hoboken and I trusted they would know how to drive through the narrow streets. They were able to maneuver well. My only complaint… and a major one for my guests… was that they didn’t take the directions provided and instead got stuck trying to cross the Holland tunnel entrance/​exit from Jersey City to Hoboken. My directions had them going a different way. It took 45 minutes to go 2 miles. The busses arrived (with all 120 guests) just at the start time of the wedding. It was a near miss/​late start but it worked out in the end. The other thing I didn’t love was that the driver didn’t pick up the trash left in the bus before the return trip home. Since they are more expensive than other companies I would have expected them to have done a walk through before the buses re-​boarded at the end of the night.

The worst bus company in New York they never on time, x24 –x23 to Staten Island, then you call for info how late the bus are and with the nasty attitude people at the deck what they do: hangup on you! wishi MTA will take over from this company!

Unreliable leaving NYC weeknight after rush hour; communication from head office is virtually non-​existent. Showed up at 9:20 tonight to catch the 9:30 bus and found a crude handwritten sign at the gate saying 9:30 was cancelled and next bus is 10:00… Yet nowhere on their web site is any kind of service advisory to warn you in advance, so by the time you find out, you’re stuck an extra half hour at the PABT, a dump of a facility that looks like it hasn’t been remodeled since the 70s, frequented by homeless dudes who haven’t showered in weeks. About the only thing that keeps them in business is that the obvious alternative, NJ Transit, is even worse.

I took an academy bus from Port Authority in nyc to Atlantic City and it was one the worst travel experiences I’ve ever had. I arrived at port authority at 8:45 for a 9am bus (as suggested in a confirmation email). There were throngs of people waiting in a long line. I went to get my physical ticket from an incredibly rude employee and was told that the 9am bus had left early at 840 and that I would have to wait for the 10am bus. What is the point of reserving a ticket online if the bus service is going to overbook and leave without you?
Of course the 10am bus arrived late with very few seats available (most of the people in line didn’t even get seats on the 10am). Luckily I got in the «priority line» for reserving online — so VIP. The bus was crowded with uncomfortable seats, no armrests between seats, and no seatbelts. I don’t know how they are legally allowed to operate a bus without seatbelts.
The bus fare came with a free ride back to nyc but I couldn’t even find a bus schedule online. Needless to say, I did not want to ride in a POS with no seatbelts. Instead, I bought a ticket for a greyhound which felt absolutely luxurious after the bus experience from hell getting to ac.

Cancelled after an hour and a half in the pouring rain and wind – no notification for 45 minutes. Dashed to another casino in the lousy weather on the «chance» there would be room. Waited 2 hours outside there. Wet and frozen, but made it on. Air conditioning on for whole trip making the temperature a nightmare. No Wifi. Bus was 20 minutes late, to boot. I would rather hitch-​hike.

They run the North Fork bus lines from Glen Cove to Manhattan. There is little customer service. There is no notification of cancelled buses.

Worst bus ride eva. Outlets don’t work, bathroom smells like mucho poo-​poo all the time so every time the door opens it is like a tidal wave of stank and rot., but still ¹⁰⁄₁₀ never again

Academy bus did not get us to the cruise ship as advertised. We missed our departure. Used academy bus to get to the cruise terminal in NYC. Apparently their drivers do not check road closures since there was a well documented event going on that would require taking an alternate route in order to get to the pier before the ship left. Instead, the bus was sitting still for two hours with no AC only a mile and a half from the pier causing us, and the 25 other passengers to miss the cruise. What an absolute nightmare that could have been prevented had academy checked road closures.

I guess there’s a reason it’s $ 15. Well, $ 40 for the ticket — $ 25 in slots voucher that I turned into $ 25 real dollars.
Make sure you buy the voucher online. The folks at Port Authority that hadn’t bought in advance looked annoyed and unhappy. Us voucher people had a short wait for our real ticket and then were the first ones on the bus. The bus left a couple of minutes early and was clean. No complaints at this point.
Ride home — different story. The schedule I picked up at PA said there was a 7:15 bus home from Taj Mahal. I showed up at 7:00 and learned that there wasn’t a 7:15 because they were running a Saturday schedule on Sunday. Yeah, no way for me to know that. The next bus was scheduled for 8:15 so I made $ 10 more on the slots then headed over for that bus. It pulled up after already having picked up a lot of people at another hotel, and could only take a few from our long line. No additional bus was being brought in so we were told we had to wait there for the 10:00 — but that they would bring an empty bus to us so we were guaranteed. They were right, but after we loaded up the bus they took it to Caesars where only 5 or so people from that line could fit. No idea how much longer those folks had to wait around.
There’s clearly a planning breakdown at this company. Maybe they should make people reserve a spot on a return bus to ensure this type of stuff doesn’t happen. I would certainly rather do that than stand in line for hours in AC.

UPDATE: 4−20−16: Buyer beware. The bathrooms on the GoBus NY/​BOS are awful now. Flushing often doesn’t work and bathroom tissue often is not to be found.
UPDATE: 8−17−15: Just when you think it couldn’t get worse… the 8am GoBus from Cambridge to Manhattan lost the air conditioning in CT near Bridgeport. The driver then decided to try and find a replacement bus and drove around the Bridgeport hood until he decided to go back on Rt.95 after wasting 20 minutes driving around town. Then on average about 50 mph while the full bus steamed and with minimal traffic took his time getting through Manhattan and wasting at least another 20 minutes. Take another bus line until further notice.
UPDATE: 08−15−15: Service is slipping. Just took an early 8am bus from Manhattan to Cambridge, and the trip took 6 hours with minimal traffic. Bus driver took an unexpected 20 minute break just outside of New Haven for no reason at all, and constantly found a traffic jam instead of using GPS to go around it. When I called customer service to complain, the excuse was he was a Hoboken driver. What’s the difference! Just tell him not to stop as it’s a non-​stop trip!
UPDATE: 03−30−15: the line is operating on a much more efficient clip and trip time is back to a more consistent time of 4.5 hours on average.
update: Academy Bus/11−02−14: Service has actually improved. Travel times are more in line with a proper bus trip not a sojurn to the West Coast in a plane (5.5−6hours). Hope it continues…
Update: Academy Bus/09−08−2014: Fed up with the lack of customer service and computer malfunctions, I called the President’s office and after three phone calls was sent back to a lower level trouble shooter who had only been hired a week ago and could only forward me to another «supervisor» who in turn had no idea why I called despite me calling over 20 times and leaving messages that were exactly the same. Incredible.
UPDATE/​GOBUS NYC-​BOSTON RUN: 09/​07/​2014: Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse… the computer online system didn’t accept any of my credit card information, thus, had to book with some other service. Yup, and I left over ten messages with Academy about this, and other items. Did anyone call back? Nope
UPDATE/​GOBUS NYC-​BOSTON RUN: 08/​23/​2014: It’s getting worse. Each trip is taking at least five hours with no traffic and the driver routinely take a long break in between which easily adds 30 minutes to the trip. Not to mention most drivers pick the longest route possible, this is easily the worst this service has ever been. Nice going Academy. Hey, and some power outlets would be nice.
Academy Bus headquartered in NJ/​NY now runs this service and it’s poor at best. The NYC-​BOS bus has been consistently late and the breaks in between easily add 15 – 30 minute delays to a trip that should take 4.5 at most with basic traffic. In addition the seats on these buses are cramped and uncomfortable. I miss the days when this line was WorldWide, and now GoBus. It was quicker, on time, more comfortable, and had power outlets!

First and last time using Academy to go to Atlantic city. On the morning we were heading home, we arrived at the Taj Mahal 30 minutes before the bus was supposed to depart. There was a line of about 300 people waiting for one bus. We decided to walk to Caesars and catch the 1:30 bus. When we arrived 45 minutes before the bus was supposed to depart, there was a mess of people on line. Some of them were going to the greyhound bus, some the academy, but nobody was around to let us know where to go.
Finally, a full bus arrived at 1:30. The driver came out to let 4 people on and inform the other 80 people that «there is an empty bus coming in 40 minutes!» And left.
It is now an hour later and no bus has arrived. A call was places to academy and we were informed that «the replacement bus hasn’t left the depot yet and the Taj Mahal bus is full now, so stay where you are».
When there were too many people for the greyhound bus, they had a second bus here within 15 minutes. If you are leaving from the port authority I STRONGLY advise that you stay away from academy and spend the extra few bucks on greyhound. They actually seem to care about their customers.

I was extremely afraid of taking this bus service after reading the reviews. I had already bought tickets and foolishly didn’t read beforehand.
Surprisingly the service was on time and we got to our destination and back 15 minutes early!
My only complaint was our driver on the returning trip. She announced to not speak on phones or be loud in order to not disturb the passengers, but mostly herself. There were people speaking at a normal level and she yelled at them. It was pretty unprofessional.

I wish you could give minus stars…
This bus line is by far the worst I have ever come across. Go Greyhound. They are the same price and much more reliable.
Me and two friend were taking the bus to Atlantic City. We were just going for one night.
We reserved seats online for 6.00pm on friday. We left work early and arrived at 5.45. The staff are utterly rude and the lines were total disorder. People pushing and shoving. After lining up and waiting for the bus, that didn’t arrive until 6.15, we didn’t manage to get on, as it was full. even though we had reserved seats for a specific time.
We asked the staff for information, they were rude and unhelpful. They offered no explanation and then disappeared. We were then told that we could board the 7pm. so we lined up until then. Only to be told it had been canceled!
We should have got our refund then, but I had booked the hotel already and would loose my deposit. So we waited even longer, nobody providing us with reliable information!
Finally the manager arrived and managed to board us on a bus that was travelling somewhere else in NJ but could drop us off on the way.
We arrived at Atlantic city 3 hrs later than intended!
This is only the first part… The journey back was 10 times more chaotic!
we rushed to catch the bus leaving from AC to NYC at 2.30pm. the trip had already been cut short by our late arrival, which was annoying, but we had appointments in the city so it was even more essentially to arrive in NYC in time.
The 2.30pm bus was canceled!!!
then the 3.300pm was canceled!!!
Then we were told to quickly run to another hotel for a 4pm pick up which was then «full». the pick up was the first stop and the bus never arrived so how could it be full? turn out that you can privately rent academy buses, so they canceled the bus to provide for the private booking, and didn’t provide a replacement bus!!!
So far 3 buses canceled.
We were then told to go to another hotel for the 5.30pm bus! by this time we had already missed all our appointments in the city and were loosing hope in even being able to leave AC. what is to say that the 5.20pm wouldn’t be canceled?!
There are no representatives of academy anywhere and when i tried to phone, the staff were rude AGAIN! and could not provide any information or explanation. Also the manager was not available until Monday?! seriously? when I asked for the staff personnel name for reference, he refused to give me it!!!
Finally the bus arrived at 5.30pm with no explanation or apology. we arrived back at NYC at 8.15pm!
Academy buses ruined what could have been an enjoyable trip. but also wasted half a day of our time (at least)
I will never use them again and am now attempting to get a refund and compensation for wasted time and missed appointments!

Is the glass half full or half empty?
Bet on black or red?
Best way to get to AC? probably not.
You’re pissed that your bus is late because it departed an hour late? That sucks. I’m not sure why they delayed your bus, but they let me onto your bus so I was able to leave early.
You think the bus ride sucks? Well, it could be worse. You could be stranded on the side of the road only to have another bus come by so you can ride (whoops, I mean STAND) back to Manhattan.
Overall, the price is right. I ended up winning some money from Caesars, so I’m happy. Hey, you’re going to Atlantic City, why not make everything a gamble, including going there and back. On this particular trip, I came back a winner, so 4 stars for Academy.
Oh yeah, book it on mega bus’s website to save some cash.