Apex Bus

I have NEVER in my life… have I ever been so disappointed in a company in my life. My cousins (from Germany) who booked this bus to Orlando, Florida from NYC were left flat. on the street… on the sidewalk… because they decided to cancel the bus without notice. Mind you. people who visit here have all their plans in order. All hotels, flights, Disney tickets booked, etc… my cousins are out $ 2500 because of this nit witted company. Currently, we have been on online chat with them to rectify/​get refund, as well as calling the customer service number… no progress. Scam. Stay AWAY!!! They won’t even give us another number to call!

Don’t use this company. One time we set up a reservation to rent out an entire bus to go to is six flags. When we arrived, we waited for 45 minutes before they came to tell us that they didn’t have the bus for us. After an even longer wait, they managed to get a bus and have a driver come to bring us to six flags.
The next issue was that once we arrived at our destination, the driver didn’t stick around. We were asked what time we wanted to get home and he would be back around that time. I wasn’t happy about the driver not staying but it was understandable considering we paid an excellent rate. However, it ended up being that the driver did not have a cell phone so when it came time to go home, we were wandering through the entire parking lot looking for him.

I frequent Apex Bus for my trips down to VA and the pros are easy to find…
1) Trips are cheap
2) They’re almost always on time
3) The drive is quick
Now, these also make room for cons as well…
1) Cheap means no wi-​fi, movie or any real luxuries of the sort… I didn’t mind too much though.
2) They’re super punctual, so arrive early to check in or miss your bus.
3) A quick 6-​hour drive leaves little room for safety. Sometimes you literally feel like you’re flying down the road in the dead middle of a stormy night
The language barrier is in full effect, so customer service levels aren’t the greatest, but for those who want No Hassle round-​trips up and down the majority of the East coast for dirt cheap, go for it.

This is the worst experience I have ever had. Booked return tickets from Washington DC to NY at 8:00 PM. Everyone was advised to show up 7:45PM to make sure we could depart at scheduled time. After 1 hour waiting for the bus and with absolutely no information about what is going on, the bus finally arrived…
After a little while on the highway me and my girlfriend started to sense that something was wrong. The driver was talking to himself and seemed like he was mentally unstable. He made sudden movements with the wheel when changing lanes which caused the bus to wiggle from side to side.
He also picked up people at a gas station in Philadelphia which was not a part of the plan and caused us to be even more delayed.
When approaching New York he suddenly stopped on the highway and turned the bus to the side. He freaked out and started blaming people for stealing his Obama Phone and that he was not gonna continue driving before someone returned it. After several complaint from us and others around in the bus he continued but was clearly in a really aggressive mood.
At one point, I thought we would die because we came into a sharp turn in way too high speed. The bus almost tipped over and people were screaming.
We arrived 2 hours after scheduled time… Worst bus experience ever… Glad I survived.

After reading the reviews here I was a bit weary to take the bus to Philadelphia.
I walked over to Allen Street and scoped out the bus stop. It was a no frills wait room with a non English speaking ticket agent.
The sign was clear and I bought a ticket. I returned and took the 12 noon bus which was on time, clean and had an English speaking — excellent driver.
We had the benefit of no traffic on a Saturday — and made it there on schedule.
The the return trip was sold out and at full capacity. On time, and no traffic.
I thought it was a great experience and I am a fan who will take it again!

This company really IS as bad as everyone is saying.
I just took the bus to Virginia and when we were leaving the city, it was discovered that the bus was infested with cockroaches. The company refused to give us a new bus or even attempt to clean the one we were on. Because of the fiasco that ensued, we ended up being on a cockroach infested bus for 3hours longer than the trip should have been.
On top of that, the bus was late in both directions. As everyone else said, not only did they not tell us the bus was going to be late, they had us stand outside in the cold that entire time. And when someone finally asked when the bus was coming, we were told that the bus «just went over the bridge» at three separate points in time. Everyone that works for this company is unnecessarily rude, including our bus-​driver who got lost twice and passed one of the stops entirely.
No amount of money saved will ever get me back on this bus.

I wish I could do only a half star because I am alway disappointed when I take this dis-​organized, bus service from NYC-​VA that doesn’t compare to a Vamoose, Megabus or Bolt even. It is in Chinatown so it can feel a bit cattley (for my made up word of the day).
IDK I’m still on it though so I guess I must enjoy the poor customer service. But then again it is cheap enough, although rates increased and they charge to print out a ticket from online even though if you purchase your ticket on site you don’t have to pay the additional $ 2.
I could smell the bathroom from my seat for the duration of the trip. I wasn’t able to read because they turned all the lights out and wouldn’t allow the passengers control of their reading light. The bus was crowded and a good number of people were rude and disrespectful. I had an uncomfortable ride because my knees where touching the seat in front of me the entire time and I am only 5“6′ so I shouldn’t have those kind of issues.
There wasn’t Wi-​fi like advertised so I wasn’t able to make good use of my time.
The good news was we stopped in Delaware for some Chinese food $ and to stretch.
There is a language barrier so there are a lot of disgruntled passengers. I still find it odd that all the Asian people sit up front and everyone else in the back.

ALWAYS TAKE MEGABUS OR BOLT BUS OVER EASTERN. They’re either cheaper or within a few dollars and well worth the money.
The only reason why I’m giving this rating one star is because you can’t give it zero. On a trip from Baltimore to NYC I was kept waiting in the rain for the 3:50 bus for half an hour. By time the bus got in, the driver parked around back and came out to the parking lot asking if anyone had a ticket. I told him I did and he asked if I had money. He did this with the other people waiting. Then he started to load those people in the bus and I was left waiting in the rain for the 4:50 bus already soaked from having to wait 30 minutes as it was. I will never travel with Eastern ever again. I’d rather spend $ 70 on an Amtrak ticket

HORRRRRIFIC!!!
BUS IS THREE HOURS LATE AND EVERYONE GIVES YOU A BS ANSWER!!!
Do yourself a favor and take the Bolt or Mega.

If I could rate this company lower, I would. Our bus was over 3 hrs late for pickup, then half way to Atlanta, we stopped to do a bus swap… and waited another 2 hours for that bus. When you ask how much longer, it’s always 20 minutes (try multiplying that by 6 and you’re closer). Thank God it wasn’t raining.
We received zero communication while we wait in the middle of some strip mall parking lot.
I had been warned that they run a little behind, so I was prepared for 1 – 2 hours, but this trip was 7 hours late.
Oh, and no apologizes from anyone. I didn’t even want a refund, but a simple «We’re sorry» would have gone a long way.

For 60 $ RT to Norfolk and back from NYC, is not a bad deal at all. Renting a car w/​enterprise for the weekend would have cost be 70 bucks, this not including gas and tolls. I booked the bus through
, i am not sure if this is the same as apex, but didnt know where else to put my review. so here is how my process went.
Note if youre the prissy, overly clean typem need to arrive and leave deadlocked on time of person, then go for amtrak. it is neat, clean, stops are well announced, they have wifi, plugs, etc. If i had the money, thats what i would do.
PRE– trip preparations:
Arrived at the stop @ 133 East broadway about 45 min before my departure time at 10. Checked in w/​the lady in the tour company wait stop, asked her if i could be seated in the front, and she was pretty nice and gave me a decent seat. It is literally mid chinatown, so with time to spare, i walked next door to the bakery, grabbed a bagel, a coconut bun and a sweet custard bun (Both were yummyy!!!), a bottle of water and some anti emetic med before we boarded (pharmacy, chinese bakery are all on the same block. so no sweat).
Bus arrived 20 min late, but thats ok. btW, the waiting area has 2 – 3 plugs, and i was one of those passengers hogging one plug for the entire wait area becuase i needed to charge my phone and ipad. So if u need to get that done, do so, remember, no plugs on this bus! Its not megabus!
The RIDE: I left thurs @10am, so the bus was maybe half way full– meaning i got two seats to myself (yay!).(btw, this bus had seat numbers, btu the return trip bus didnt, that being said, no one really adheres to seat numbers) It made one stop, i think somewhere in PA to get gas, a 15 min break was announced, everyone got off @ the rest stop to grab lunch. Driver did a headcount at the end and we were back on the road in about 15−20min.
Bathrrom– DISGUSTING. It was pretty gross, no toilet paper (i wonder if thats on purpose). but if u bring ur own paper, towlettes and u really need to go, its definitely do-​able (i did). I intentionlly brought only a small bottle of water with me for the ride because i didnt wanna have to pee… but i survived even after using their bathroom– its a step down from a port-​a-​potty in terms of cleanliness and smell.
Post ride: It dropped us off at a mall in norfolk, i believe the bus went to newport news next. Smooth ride, no complaints.
On the way back:
Pre ride– same ordeal. I was actually scheduled for the 530pm bus, but i wanted to spend some more time with the bf, so i went in there and asked if they could reschedule me for the 12:30 bus– she gave me an attitude and told me that she was making and excpetion, but eh, who cares. I got rescheduled and arrived @12 to get my seat and such.
The bus arrived 40 min late! Ugh, i was so pissed. Anyhow, so yea getting on the night bus sucks, unless you’re the type of person who can sleep on a bus in one seat. The bus was a bit more than half way full, that being said, had i not used the restroom in the norfolk waiting area before boarding the bus, i would have gotten my own 2-​seats. but i missed out. I was super uncomfortable on the bus throughout the ride because i could not sleep. It stopped somewhere to pick up their own people, and stopped in jersey city to let them off. I got off there as well because i live in jersey city, which was nice cz i didnt have to ride the bus all the way into nyc and then take two trains back!
If you have any questions please ask, but i would definitely ride this again! Its easy on the wallet and besides the asian drivers, and not much organization, the ride is not very much different than the greyhound!

Waited 3.5 hours for a pickup in Anderson, SC. Received a notification via email the next day that the bus was going to be late the day before, btw… fat help that was. While I was waiting for the bus at the last minute a large van of Asians swarmed the stop. They later tried to pay cash for a bus ticket. As the driver explained (I assume since I do not speak Chinese) there was a boarding priority… electronic tickets, paper tickets, then cash. Well there was a huge blow up because the last minute van people were certain they’d reserved the entire coach despite not having a ticket. After heated bickering between the driver, other passengers (like myself with a printed ticket), and the van people for what seemed like an eternity, there was room for everyone.
There was no working AC, Wi-​Fi, nor outlets on the bus despite being advertised otherwise… realistically, for $ 60, what do you expect? The bathroom smelled strongly of urine, which wafted down the aisle everytime someone opened the door. The only thing for ventilation was one of the emergency hatches on top that was left open.
The bus was express from ATL to NYC. It took 85 then 95… I hate both roads, but I wasn’t doing the driving. About 20 miles outside NYC the bus began experiencing trouble. We were stalled on the side of the road for 10 minutes before the driver got it restarted. We would stop about 5 more times on the way in, including at the entrance of the Holland Tunnel… the bus finally made it to Manhattan and stalled on while making a turn. The driver let us off there, about 10 blocks from our final destination and several blocks from the nearest subway or bus.
Overall, I’d expect more, but you get what you pay for. Still better than Greyhound… I’ve been through far worse things with them. I liked that there were no layovers, a 13 hour drive… basically an express bus from ATL to NYC. The rest stops were very brief, time to grab a quick drink/​snack, have a cigarette, and get back on the bus. The time conscious drivers were great, even if they couldn’t speak English. 90% of the clientele was Asian/​Chinese.

I took Apex bus to Richmond, VA. It’s a hot mess BUT is very cheap. First of all, on their website you will definitely pay more… sometimes double the price! If you go in person, there might be a chance you don’t get a seat… but you should be ok if you go early. Also the website will post a 3pm bus to Richmond when there is NO 3pm bus at all. So if you want a cheaper ticket show up in person early and realize you’re in for a long wait. Luckily there are some bubble tea places around that area that you can sit around and wait on.
If you bought your ticket online, make sure you go inside to the ticket window and they will give you a seat #. If you don’t there will be a Chinese lady outside yelling at you «HEY where you going?» and she will direct you into the office to get your seat number or tell you how to buy your ticket if you haven’t already.
The seat # you’re given just holds you a seat on the bus but doesn’t actually mean that is the seat # you sit in. There is no formal queue or anything… just a bunch of people standing on Allen st. When the bus pulls up an 30min to an hour late people will just rush. You will fair better getting your choice of seat if you don’t have to store a luggage under the bus. Then you can rush past all the people who do.
The bus itself is not that pretty. There is no wi-​fi –DUH its a Chinatown bus! Not Boltbus! The bathroom is horrible. Bring yourself some wipes/​tissues/​hand sanitizer for this trip. They make 1 bathroom/​food/​break stop in Maryland about halfway through the trip.
If you’re looking for a luxury bus ride… uhm take a train or a plane. If you’re looking for the cheapest way to Richmond or other random parts of Virginia that boltbus doesn’t go to, Take Apex and prepare yourself!

WORST experience of my life. Do yourself a favor and don’t use this bus, unless you want old creepy chinese dudes crawling over you to get a seat, and want to be over an hour late because the bus never came on time, or have a shit load of un announced stops, or generally be uncomfortable and grossed out the entire time.
This deserves ZERO stars

I feel like I have to let everyone know about this incident I had with Apex Bus. I did not actually end up riding Apex Bus to Washington, DC but this story does give insight to the company and also the people that run this bus line and also other Chinese-​owned bus lines in Chinatown. Let me just say this. Competition is fierce. And when it comes to the Chinese, it can be a cut throat business. OK. Here goes. I am trying to catch the 7PM Apex Bus to DC on a Wednesday night, and I am 5 minutes late to the terminal. I can see that the bus has left and I am frantic! This is the conversation that ensued between me and the counter person (CP):
Me: When is the next bus leaving?
CP: There are no buses tonight. The next bus is tomorrow.
Me: (Silence)
CP: You can take a cab and still catch the bus at 34^th St.
Me: Do you know if there are any other buses going to DC tonight?
CP: No idea
Me: (About to cry at this point)
CP: (Sees the frustration in my eyes)
Me: Try walking down Allen St., you might find a company.
CP: Do you know if they have another bus leaving?
Me: They have the same schedule as us. Probably no more buses leaving tonight for DC.
Me: (I walk away with my head hung low)
At this point, I am pretty anxious. I call my aunt and she consults with my uncle, and then they inform me that there has been some serious rivalry between Apex and New Century for business, and some people have even gotten fights and perhaps someone getting injured seriously! My uncle informs me that perhaps the workers at Apex are not allowed to point passengers in the direction of their fiercest competitor, New Century. At this point, I am livid. What the H? But I did walk down a few blocks and I did find New Century Bus Company and luckily they did have a bus leaving at 7:30PM. I give Apex 3 stars because the guy at the counter did try to help me (albeit in a very shady way). And I did get to DC safely, and the story has a happy ending ;-)

Fortunately, i never had to resort to the chinatown bus but i’ll post a review based on my boyfriend’s experiences.
After the snowstorm, this was his last restort to get to NYC. He said it wasn’t too bad but it definitely wasn’t as comfortable as Boltbus.
I said, well my cousin used to take it from DC to NYC all the time and it’s a horrible experience!!! Loud chinese music playing the whole ride and you feel like you’re going to die bc the bus driver is swerving and driving all nutso.
On the way back to Philly, he took the apex last minute and got a ticket on the spot. He said this trip back was a whole lot more similar to my cousin’s experiences. The bus driver was blasting chinese music but turned it down a little bit when people started boarding. Also, he kept jerking and breaking the whole way…
That must suck…

Indeed their rates from NY to Washington, D.C. are cheap for a reason. There are no WI-​FI, no TV or any tech service equipment available for patrons to kill time during the trip. The bus driver does not make any rest stops for bathroom breaks or snack/​drink purchases despite of the assign stop of Baltimore, MD. At the Baltimore, MD assigned stop the bus driver enjoys a cigarette break and picks up more patrons to squeeze an adult size elephant into a coach bus. Indeed, Apex Bus is not the most reliable bus company in service for long haul trips.
A one-​way journey from NY to Washington, D.C. was a total of 4.5 hours which the bus is packed. The ticket collector woman gives a nasty «what kind of ticket is this?» look at me with my e-​ticket that were purchased online which she appears to be living in the stone ages pre-​computer era.
You get what you pay for!

You are masochist who loves to be squished into an old, likely swine flu invested, coach with a public-​health-​disaster-​waiting-​to-​happen bathroom and revels in being treated and herded like swine and seeks out the worst customer service ever. You are also a cheap bastard. Thus, you will fall madly in love with Apex, a.k.a Today’s Bus service. I wish you both a life of misery and frustration together.
The End.

I took Apex Bus (NY-​DC) since June for a couple of times before I decided t write a review. I think that’s fair. This bus company is the first bus I’d tried taking before I read the bad reviews. I was really close to giving up the tickets after the reviews. My husband convinced me I should give it a try since most customers write bad feedbacks if they have unpleasant experiences.
I often take the 930am bus from either state. I believe lesser passengers will board earlier bus, it’s true. Most of us feels frustrated when bus is full board. share seats, cramped. so if there is a choice to choose, just have to wake up early and you’ll have a good journey.
All times, I experience fairly good rides with Apex Bus. Bus leaves pretty much on time, does not smell at all as written by other passengers. Restroom is clean but after a couple of hours, It’s normal to smell a little. Passengers only have themselves to blame, driver can’t be cleaning the restroom if they are driving.
Also, most times the driver does not make any in between stops which I prefer. Having a 3.5−4 hours bus ride, you just want to reach your destination asap. However, the driver is accommodating to stops request. they do not talk that much but is efficiently fast and safe.
I am writing this review using the bus’s wireless. That is a bonus to keep my journey go by fast. In the background, a movie is currently being played to keep the rest of the passengers occupied.
I will strongly recommend this bus. Take the earlier timing for an assured comfort and pleasant journey. The best duration I experienced was a 3hr 40mins from DC to NY (9.30am bus). How good can that get?! Oh, I avoid traveling on weekends too. :)

The first driver lied and said the bus didn’t stop in Philly. I had an appointment and didn’t want to take an indirect route.
Groggy, I got up and left while looking for my Chinatown train before quickly realizing that I was not in NYC. The train had left. After waiting 30 minutes for the next train, I stuck my luggage in the trunk. I gave the driver the transfer thing that the lady from the Philly station gave me. He said he wouldn’t take it and I needed to take the next bus before starting to drive off. I literally ran after it and pounded on the door, telling him to open up because my stuff was on there. The station lady came out and told him to take me.
Another lady got on. She had her ticket in her purse. They were very nasty to her and forced her off the bus. Fortunately, she found it and caught up with the bus at the light.
Do not take it. This is the worst ever.