Local Motion

I am shocked that this company has so few poor reviews. My school uses this company to transport students and I have only had negative experiences (well– not as negative as could be I suppose… since I’m still alive).
But very very tardy drivers with poor knowledge of the Boston area, and a management system with little common sense. Mix these elements together and you get the kind of service that makes you wish you’d just put your students on a public bus instead!
I’ve been told that this company has a monopoly on school bus services in the Boston area… Agh maybe someone else could start a competing company?

After some miscommunications with other local bus companies I found myself with no bus less than two hours before I needed to get fifty people to an ALS fundraiser on a Saturday night. I was up the creek in a major way. After explaining the situation to an operator I was connected with the owner of the company. (Try reserving a bus less than two hours before your deadline in a city whose buses are completely booked and you will understand how daunting this task was) The owner found me a bus within minutes that was affordable, clean and driven by a friendly and helpful driver. The bus arrived on time without a hitch and this guy basically saved the day and helped a good cause. Bruce wherever you are out there thank you and thank you Local Motion for going above and beyond to help a fellow local business. –Broderick

We worked with Local Motion for a very large (880+) corporate event during the worst streak of weather in Boston’s history (94 inches in one month and our event was right in the middle of the mess). The management of our event was top notch and I cannot say enough about this company!

My wife takes the Local Motion shuttle that runs from Crown Colony office park to Quincy Adams and had a very troubling experience this evening. She was the only person on the shuttle when the driver all of a sudden pulled into an empty parking lot, got out, looked around, got back on and asked where she was going. When she told him the company name and the address, he said, «We don’t go there.» This is not the first time she has taken the shuttle so she knew it was not true. When he said for a 2^nd time that they do not go where she was going, she asked to get off and started walking. The driver then followed her and pulled up to the sidewalk she was on. He asked her to «point on a map» where she was going and she had to yell at him to leave her alone in order for me to get back in his shuttle. Obviously, she was incredibly shaken after the experience as this is something that should never happen.
:EDIT:
After receiving a message from the shuttle manager, Bob B, my wife spoke to him and was personally apologized too. While the situation should not have happened to begin with, she and I feel better knowing that it is being handled by the company and that complaints like this are not taken lightly.

I don’t usually write reviews but my experience with Local Motion was so spectacular that I had to share. We had to book a bus at the last minute for a group tour around Boston. Lisa, a Local Motion transportation coordinator who first answered the phone, was exceptional and had us booked and ready to go in a matter of minutes. Our driver, Rodini, was patient, polite, flexible, kind, and knew exactly where he was going the entire time. The whole experience with Local Motion was just fabulous from when I first spoke with Lisa on the phone the day before our bus tour to being dropped back off at the airport at the end of our day. To top it off, there pricing was slightly lower than many places I had called.

I really wanted to use Local Motion for our wedding shuttles. One thing that’s been consistent about this company throughout my attempts to book shuttles is their inability to return emails and phone calls (repeatedly…over the course of months!). The funny thing is I’m ready to make a payment. I’ll be reaching out to some competitors today.

We used Local Motion for our wedding shuttles to and from the hotel and reception (approximately 100 guests). I worked with JJ, and she was beyond helpful in reserving the vehicles and providing suggestions for timing throughout the wedding day. She was also very sweet and funny!
On the day of the wedding, the drivers were on time, friendly, and even played the mix CD we made for the wedding guests! They were also very flexible and accommodating when the bridal party ran late. The buses we rented were clean and pretty much perfect for the quick 15 minute ride to the venue.
Highly recommend!

On time, professional, clean and very reasonably priced!!! I am so happy that we used this company for our transportation needs for our wedding. They were on time, early actually, for all phases of transportation. The driver knew exactly where we were going and was very professional. We had two different busses (one of the girls and one for the boys) and the bus for the boys even stopped part way to the venue so they could take some pictures. Very accommodating!!! We also had a van for our wedding guests at the end of the night and he was fabulous also. Couldn’t have asked for a smoother experience!!!

This company is consistently late. Drivers oversleep, get lost, choose the worst possible route and the busses often breakdown! I work for a school that employs this company for excursions with students. We will be looking elsewhere. Too many horrible experiences with this unprofessional company!

Do NOT use Local Motion if you want your kids to get home safely. The school I work for recently hired LM to pick up approximately 40 students from a school event and drop them off at their homes at the end of the night. After dropping off ONE student, the driver of one of the busses pulled over to the side of the road, told the students he had to go and that another driver would come and take them the rest of the way, and then left them. Alone. He left the remaining students alone on the bus in a not-​so-​great neighborhood to wait for the new driver to come and take them the rest of the way. No one called the contact person from the school, and we did not find out about this incident until the next morning. Obviously, as soon as we heard what happened, we contacted Local Motion immediately to sort things out. Initially, Charlene the Transportation Coordinator was extremely sympathetic and just as horrified as we were about what happened. She had the company’s owner, Bill, call us back to discuss further. His response? «This is not the type of work we typically do or want to do.» I’m sorry — you’re a bus company. With school busses. Picking up a group of students and dropping them off at home isn’t what you do?
So — if what you need is a bus company to get people safely from one place to another, Local Motion has made it clear that that is not the type of work that they do. I suggest looking elsewhere.

Working with Local Motion was an excellent experience from start to finish. Having never chartered a bus before, I did a lot (a LOT) of checking around before making a final decision, and when it came to price and service, there was just no comparison. Not only was their quote the lowest, it was also the most prompt. Working through the final details over the phone was a breeze.
The bus itself was immaculate, seemingly brand new, and very comfortable. The driver was courteous and arrived 15 minutes early. The ride was smooth enough that the adults who wanted to sleep could, while the children in our group enjoyed being able to watch «A Charlie Brown Christmas» on the DVD player. (There were also inputs for attaching an audio device like an iPod). I still can hardly believe the deal we got.
i would recommend Local Motion to any group without hesitation, and we will be using their services again the next time we need this kind of transportation. Many thanks to Bruce for his kindness and help.

I personally have been working with Local Motion for several years, while my company has been working with them much longer. Local Motion has always provided us with quality buses, great support from their office, and fantastic drivers who epitomize Local Motion’s commitment to customer service and safety. We recently wrapped up a staff outing to New York City, and our drivers Rod and David were both outstanding and super professional. Absolutely reccommend this company for anyone looking for transportation needs in the Boston area.

We were looking for a way to transport 50+ guests to/​from our venue (ceremony/​cocktail/​reception all in one site) — from two hotels in Westford, MA, roughly 15 minutes away… to keep our guests from having to worry about getting there, and to prevent drinking and driving. We looked into limos, coaches, etc… but as our wedding was at a barn (Barn at Gibbet Hill in Groton, MA) — school buses seemed fun & fitting.
I e-​mailed for a quote (last year), and within a day heard from Jessy. Over the weeks and months, our needs/​ideas changed a little bit… and I’d discuss changes with Jessy, and same day — have a new quote. The price was MORE than fair, we were able to add gratuity right to our AmEx (one less thing to worry about), and the service was quick, efficient, 100% on-time…and certainly affordable.
FYI: We got 2 buses to go from hotels to venue… then 1 bus left, and the other bus remained and did 2 round-​trips back to the venue near the end /​after the wedding.
Weddings are a lot of work… if you need group transportation… definitely consider Local Motion — it will be one less thing to worry about, because they will take care of things without a problem, without any catches, and without any small print. Thank you Local Motion, and Jessy, for making this part of our wedding so easy to coordinate… and for a fun bus ride as a married couple :)

Very impressed and pleased with the service from my initial inquiry through the end of the trip. Initially was given a quote for a 16 person bus and when I called to reserve the bus a few days later (the day before our trip) I was given a 23 person bus and Local Motion honored the quote they gave me initially. Bus driver was very nice — showed up early and had no issue waiting for everyone to get their acts together and leave — also was willing to make an extra stop on the way home to let off friends in South Boston on our way back to Brighton — Bus was very clean and nice — Internal staff very polite and easy to work with — very positive experience with Local Motion of Boston

11/​15/​2011
Please do not use this company to provide transportation for your wedding. Our family had a terrible experience in which the Father of the Bride was treated so rudely by one of their drivers that it was an embarrassing experience for many wedding guests who overheard the interaction. An awful ending to an otherwise wonderful day. PLEASE NOTE — I wrote a formal letter to the President of Local Motion and received no response at all from the company.
11/​29/​2011
Mr. Bruce Barrows of Local Motion subsequently contacted me. He offered to write a letter of apology to the Father of the Bride. He said he would address the situation of the rude bus driver. He seemed genuinely sincere. I believe our negative experience won’t be repeated for other families in the future. by Jean H. on 11/​29/​2011

I had been communicating with Jessy for about two weeks leading up to my wedding about our transportation needs. She gave us a quote, we had some back and forth, and I said please let me know what you need in order to secure our reservation. I wrote that I’ve got a credit card ready to go and I’d like to know what their procedure is. She said they needed a detailed itinerary and we would be good to go. I sent it and asked an additional question about the type of vehicle, assuming that we had complied with the reservation process. I sent this email earlier in the day.
Jessy got back to me the next day to say that as of 6pm the night before (well after my prior email), they had reserved their last vehicle and they could no longer accommodate my request.
This was 3 days before my wedding!!! She emailed me a few other transportation companies, one of whom was able to help me out.
I thought I had secured my reservation properly. I actually understand that this was a little last minute and informal, but I would have appreciated a phone call, or even some indication that it was going to be a busy weekend for them and were running out of vehicles quickly.
If you are looking for a transportation company, go see Bill at Buston Attitude. He saved our wedding and my sanity. I just left them a 5 star review.

Got in touch with Local Motion based on the great reviews I saw on Unilocal for guest transportation for my wedding. I was underwhelmed for sure by the customer service — I submit a request online and didn’t hear back for about 2 ½ weeks. They were very responsive immediately after that request, until I started to try to negotiated based on another quote that I had received. They basically decided not to respond when I asked them to revise their quote to beat another quote that I had received, and by the time I got them to pay attention to my request again, they claimed that fuel charges had gone up and they could no longer even honor their orignal quote.
Other options, if you’re looking, are LTI Worldwide Limo and Carey.

Honestly, the most stressful part of our wedding was coordinating the transportation. Local Motion put us at ease. They were there on time, the driver was super-​nice and courteous, and the whole thing was affordable. I’d recommend them.

I had a fantastic experience with Local Motion of Boston for transportation for my wedding. I spoke with Lisa who was very helpful and friendly on the phone — she gave me 20% off the price since I was getting quite a bit of service. Unfortunately, you have to book the buses in 4 hour time blocks so that made things a little complicated to set up – since I needed a block of time much larger than that – (re: you can’t book one set of drivers before the wedding and another set after the wedding) but I managed to find a solution.
I booked one bus to make 3 trips back and forth shuttling people from Coolidge Corner Marriott to the Larz Anderson Auto Museum (starting at 4:00) and a second bus to shuttle guests starting at 5:45. That saved quite a bit of money right there. Shuttling is the way to go because you can make as many trips as you want — since you’re paying a flat rate for the four hour time block.
The first shuttle was for my wedding party (4:00pm), then Russ’s wedding party)(4:45pm), and then 50 wedding guests (5:45pm) — then I arranged for a second bus to start also shuttling people at 5:45pm. They dropped the guests off right at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum for the ceremony to start — which worked out awesomely — then the buses came back for 4 more shuttles starting at 11pm. All this cost about $ 1,100 — which I think is a fair price to get everyone to our venue so they could drink and not drive!
The buses were clean, fun, on time and the drivers were also VERY nice. I would totally use Local Motion again and recommend it to all brides. FYI, the School Buses were great — they don’t have air condition so their best for short trips but they cost WAY less than the large buses and worked awwwesomly.
I especially liked the drunken (us not the driver) bus ride home. It was legendary.