firstbus.co.uk Reviews 95

Absolute shambles ! Loged in to the site a night before my trip to airport from bath with A4 bus. Was able to buy tickets for 3.30 am.. didn't buy as decided to do so on actual bus . But also went and found a time table .. that also confirmed 3.30 bus from bath Dorchester street. Arrived .. and then of chance lokes at the far side of the panel that said A4 bus where blink iiy and you miss it little notice saying they have changed bus stops and now it's from bus station..luckily I had 4 min so made it. No notice ,nothing. To show for...went in line again and after proper browsing found different times .. it's 3.45 .. luckily at the moment I am ahead as I planned for 3.30 trip but how bad is that.? The site that is air decker site not affiliate third party .. seals tickets for 3.30 ...I mean hateful is a gentle world ATM considering the stress levels that I am feeling worrying about making ti airport .. I will avoid these journeys in the future and as a lesson will be spending money on taxi rather using stupid bus services !!! Funny it's got 1 star review.. no wonder ..

Waited an hour and 15 mins for number9a to penilee tonight waited from 8pm bus came at 915 no buses into penilee wat a joke let mc gills take over the penilee run

My daughter who has just turned 12 used first bus to travel 3 stops. She asked for a child single and was charged a full adult fare. Driver told her to tap her card and refused to issue a receipt when she questioned the cost.
Contacted First Bus who told me if you use a card you’re charged full adult price, why wasn’t she told that? In this cost of living crisis this is just ridiculous.

Was on the 9a first bus the busdriver chucled me of for no reson ive got a disabilty he wasnt very nice to me

Tell me how the same journey from shenfield high school to Brentwood high street is £2.50 but coming back high street Brentwood to the stop opposite shenfield high school is £3 ! The journey is 1.8 miles from shenfield to Brentwood yet they want to charge 50p more to come back ! Makes no sense and i asked why return journeys have stopped and was told it was a business decision ! The buses are generally old that are sent out in the journey from Chelmsford , sound like they are on their last legs , have ripped seats , drivers are rude and confrontational! Basically they like to rip customers off and like to argue rather than provide a service

The new ticket system isn’t very good in my opinion, the tickets were much better than the new way of scanning your card when you get on and off the bus. Sometimes if you forget to scan as you get off you get charged more, it’s just an extra hassle

Finally saw the bus as it drove past the stop whose display had been promising it.
Crap, sooner they're all redundant the better.

Wish i could give 0 stars this service is useless. If you rely on a bus to get you work at the same time everyday you will be sacked within 3 months due to the busses being late or way too airly that you miss them

Majority of bus drivers attitudes are shocking and aggressive. Glasgow bus driver on the 19 was shouting, threatning and swearing at a parent and child on Friday 20th Feb (driving towards the fort). Handing over buses to absolute scumbags.

Absolute joke of a bus company. They're either frequently late or don't show at all. Drivers sometimes depart with empty buses or force everyone off halfway through the journey. Prices are astronomical compared to other UK bus companies.
Worst part about living in the Glasgow area by a wide margin. Do better.

Can’t do anything right. Never on time, rubbish drivers, random cancellations, wrong route…

Always extremely late and on the infinitesimal chance its early they just drive past, staff are nice however.

Bus tracker said 4 minutes then due
Then that bus at 10:15 disappeared from list
No bus
Used the car instead to drive to Bristol

Disgust Theives; sold wrong ticket bundle for the zone I needed. Got off bus to view a flat - I have been homeless 4 months, living in bedsits & hotels - unable to get back on bus to get to work. My first day at my new job no less. Tried purchasing another ticket: money left my account but no ticket. Fortunately this bus driver let me on upon seeing receipt email.
Contacted customer support: insistent ticket was in wallet on app (it wasn't); couldn't give refund for unused tickets in the bundle - despite what it says online - suggested I buy more tickets. They did agree to refund the ticket that wouldn't show up. Point blank refused to refund tickets or transfer them to correct zone.
Forced refund through PayPal: now they have submitted a counter claim I have tickets.
I can't use the tickets. I have not used the tickets. They are the wrong tickets & they refuse to change them to the correct zone.
Disgusting behaviour.
I am never ever, using their buses again.
Their app is as useless as their customer service!

my daughters and her friends tapped to get on bus. one friend it didnot work and driver wouldnt let her one but her friends had tapped and moneys from bank paid and driver didnt let her on

First bus Lowestoft need newer buses and heating as not allowed ⛔also reliability as always breaking down and NOT FIT FOR ROAD AND MOT FAKE
10 + year old buses and dirty

Has anyone ever used the UK FirstBus website to file a complaint or request a refund?
It is one of the most customer unfriendly experiences in my life. I don’t even think it was tested out on monkeys let alone human beings. Some pages appear circular in nature taking you back to a previous page. Some of the usual reasons for contact don’t even appear in the dropdown boxes leaving you none the wiser. In the end, it means having to make a selection that bears the least resemblance to a tiny portion of your complaint. Then you are required to fill in a number of boxes (some necessary) for which you do not have the necessary information. It then becomes necessary to abandon that approach. I have tried live chat before, if you can actually get through because it often states staff are unavailable.
While the passenger experience can occasionally be dodgy with phantom buses in the apparent ‘live’ timetable, they are often known never to turn up. And if you are ‘lucky’, one turns up when you least expect it and it’s not showing on the live map.
They’ve recently introduced Tap On Tap Off in Berkshire and Thames Valley, but most days the Tap Off reader is often not working.
Quite frankly, I despair.
Last Saturday, (6th December), it was supposed to be a “Slough Super Saturday” where most bus travel was supposed to be free. Guess what! It wasn’t, unless the bus driver liked you, it seems. But as I’ve discovered today, I’ve been charged for a bus journey I never even made on Sunday. I’m presently assuming it is an error and should have actually been a refund for the Saturday travel. I live in hope…

Rubbish. Buses frequently fail to turn up. It's impossible to rely on them if you need to get more than one bus to get somewhere - you can easily end up stranded as the bus you needed to catch is cancelled, or the bus you're on first is delayed or cancelled meaning you miss your next bus.
Cannot believe that in 2025 the bus system in the UK is still as bad as ever. We need to learn from pretty much every other country in the world.
There's no way you're going to get people away from the convenience of cars while the public transport system is so woefully poor and unreliable

Awful bus operator who can’t operate a reliable service for Bristol. They operate services funded by the clean air zone, so are getting paid to run services that they very regularly cancel. That’s theft really, yet still they are granted contracts by WECA which stinks of corruption in my opinion.

I was threatened with violence on the bus and there were three of them. Tw males and one female. One male had a gun in his bag and threatened violence. He said he served in Afghanistan and dominated the whole of the lower ground floor bus throughout the whole journey. There was cctv but the police said it was not clear enough for facial recognition which defeats the object of having cctv on the bus in the first place. The police also said there was no audio. I somehow don't believe that. I did wonder whether First Bus had doctored the cctv. Just seems all so convenient.