CA Shuttle Bus

I’m writing this review purely because I thought my experience was completely different than the numerous reviews.
Here’s the bottom line: CAShuttleBus is the cheapest option to get between Los Angeles and San Francisco. I just checked price fares for July 2016 (it’s currently June 9^th 2016) and they’re $ 11 dollars one way. $ 21 dollars for a round trip? That’s insanely cheap.
So here’s what you need to know:
+Pick up time was a little delayed, maybe by 10 – 15 minutes
+You can store a bag underneath the bus so you can bring luggage
+The bus is rather spacious, there’s an option to purchase the seat next to you for $ 15 dollars if you’re really worried about it
+Most of the other bus riders are between 20 – 30 years old, cheap college-​age people. Although there was one or two VERY old people as well.
+There are no seatbelts, but they drive Interstate 5, which is one of the flatest and boringest roads in the country.
+In my experience, the people traveling are rather communal and don’t mind talking on the bus
+There’s a stop at the half way point where you can eat at McDonalds/​TacoBell/​Burger King, although they say they’ll leave without you, they did a pretty rigorous check that everyone was back before we left.
+Yes the bus driver asks for a tip of $ 1 dollar, but think about it: Even with that tip this is still the cheapest option.
Personally, I read on the bus. Talked briefly to some people across the aisle, listened to some music, and the trip flew by. I can’t imagine why someone would weigh their rating so heavily on how late the bus was– it’s a seven hour bus ride, you’re probably going to be a little late anyway.
I don’t think people understand the give and take of price vs. quality. This is the cheapest option and what you’re getting is cheap. You will get a bus seat that will take you to your destination. Nothing about the service is sketchy, or unsafe. It’s exactly what it advertises to be. Whether or not that’s something you want to spend money on is up to you.

You get what you pay for with this company. They never leave on time and always blame traffic. Imagine if you showed up late to work every day and blamed traffic. No WiFi although it’s been promised. WiFi is spotty on I-​5 anyway. Only USB outlets. If you book the last two rows on the driver side, there is very little leg room, so it might be worthwhile paying 15 extra for the seat next to you. The driver to LA will make an unscheduled stop to a fruit stand which just prolongs the journey. It takes them 8 hours (don’t believe their posted times) minimum to get to LA because they switch drivers midway. The other services take only 7 hours. It’s the worst service of the three major competitors, so unless you get the cheap seats you may as well go with Megabus and be more comfortable and save an hour.

CA Shuttle Bus by far is the worst transpiration I’ve ever come across. First the bus pick up was late. The moment I went inside the bus I instantly regretted my purchase. Inside the bus looked like the interior design was out of date. Before sitting inside the bus the driver allowed all passengers inside the bus it wasn’t until out last pick up the driver made us pull up our reservation emails. This had killed so much time once a passenger couldn’t provide an email. Common sense as a business instead of rushing passengers the driver should check all emails ahead of time. After 20 minutes of conflict over the email the bus driver finally drove. Within two hours of the drive the bus driver drove to a farmers stand and claimed that was a pit stop. I had previously read from another Unilocaler the driver had made a pit stop to buy fruit in which he did for my ride. What was the final straw with my ride were I saw multiple baby roaches inside. I had called the phone number provided for the company and had spoke to Kaz and had told him everything and asked for a refund in which he allowed however asked I email customer service which I did. After emailing Yvonne she did not give me the refund as promised. Her email went to say that the insects were from customers that is understandable however it is a company’s part in cleaning up. With horrible customer service and a horrifying bus ride I will never ride with CA shuttle bus again. Something I also suggest is to not give your money to this shady company. Your better off by taking Megabus.

Took us 15 hours to get from SJ to LA. No wifi, no AC, when the bathroom door is opened the whole bus smells like its contents. Don’t take this bus — spend a little bit extra and take Megabus.

No a/​c; asked the bus driver a couple of times. No wifi. Cramped and dirty seats. Too many stops. I will never ride again.

Got me from point A (SF) to point B (north Hollywood!) at a very cheap price.
*be sure to purchase the seat next to you for only $ 15 extra.
Cons:
–quite small and rickety
— couldn’t read due to bumpiness
— paid extra for window seat and the seats were labeled wrong in the bus
— loud
— the driver made us tip him before we could get off the bus for dinner
Probably going to take Megabus back.

30 minutes late for pick-​up. The driver ate while driving. Made phone calls. Spent too much time staring at his phone. We even stopped mid-​way at a fruit stand, I think to pick up someone he called. He sped down the freeway at breakneck speeds which felt really unsafe. I paid for an extra seat but he put his bag on the seat so I paid to transport his crap.
Try MegaBus.

I have used ca shuttle bus multiple times and have enjoyed every experience. The ride may take a while but the seats are comfortable and the trip extremely affordable! The view out the large windows are quite nice and make you feel not cramped up! The crew has always been kind and considerate. If you need a way to travel between la and sf, try them out!

The CA Shuttle Bus isn’t too bad. I would say the two biggest pros are the friendly drivers and the fact that they are pet friendly! Their prices aren’t too bad either.
I don’t like the fact that the bus bathroom never has any soap, I’ve ridden this bus about six times and never once has it had sanitizer or soap after using the restroom, gross!

General Review:
I’ve taken the CA Shuttle Bus at least a dozen times now. I usually ride from San Jose to North Hollywood. If you read most negative reviews on CA Shuttle Bus, they will complain about the $ 1 the driver’s ask for as you switch driver’s at the halfway point. Really? A negative review over $ 1. The driver’s are great guys and they go out of their way to make the rides enjoyable. An extra $ 1 is the least you can do.
Pros:
–Friendly driver and owner who joke around and are always helpful
–Reasonably priced
–Big enough seats (no bigger or smaller than any other bus)
–Clean and never smelly
–San Jose location picks up and drops off right in front of the Caltrain station so you can easily catch the train up to SF
Cons:
–Contrary to what their site may advertise, there is no WiFi
–No seat belts (most buses don’t have them but still)
–Bathrooms aren’t that nice but what did you expect from a bus?
Conclusion:
CA Shuttle Bus is my bus of choice between SF and LA. The price is right and you will always have a pleasant experience. I highly recommend CA Shuttle Bus.

this was my first experience with an SF to LA bus and despite the mediocre reviews on Unilocal,i figured — why not? if it gets me from pt. A to pt. B for cheap, i assumed it’d be fine. i’ll start with the bad…
cons:
— drivers/​owner are weird about collecting a tip. the owner, who talked to us at the SJ station, explicitly told us to give the driver a $ 1 tip. and the driver from LA back to SF also told us he’d be collecting a dollar. clearly, a dollar isn’t much and i’d be happy to tip the drivers anyway, but perhaps they could work on their subtlety and not make it feel so. forced or uncomfortable.
— travel times: was picked up 15 min late from sj station, but arrived 15 min early to union station which was nice. on my way back, the bus came right on time from union station but was half an hour late to get back to SJ. oh well i guess — have to account for traffic and such, but i think it’d be good if there was some kind of text notification service for if the bus was running on-​time or not.
— NO wifi. wasn’t really expecting super speeds in the middle of nowhere, but at least some kind of service would have been nice (especially since it was advertised).
— i also did not see the option to reserve the seat next to you for $ 15 on the website. i think they might have discontinued this, which is a bummer b/​c it’s definitely more comfortable to have your own row. my anti-​social napping self was lucky enough to get an empty row on the way down (a weekday), but the sunday bus i took was packed to capacity.
pros:
— i DID get from point a to point b for cheap, as i wanted! so there’s that.
— drivers and owner were very nice and friendly, with the exception of the strange tip mentioning. their behavior in itself was tip-​worthy, but again, bluntly asking for the tip kind of put me off.
— online reservation system was easy, it was comforting to know exactly what seat i had, which lessens the need to get to the station super early.
— AC was fully working and seats were fine, so i was able to nap and read in comfort for the ride.
OVERALL, for my next SF-​LA bus trip i might try a new service, but would definitely not rule out this one in the future. my main problems with this service were the quirks i outlined before, but none were deal-​breaking. if you’re out of options and low on cash, i’d recommend ca shuttle bus!

I booked my trip from SF to LA despite the numerous bad reviews here on Unilocal.I was not sure what to expect but one thing was clear: it couldn’t be much.
Well, the day of travel came around the corner and I was patiently waiting (with quite some others) at Powell Station for the bus to show up. It came, eventually half an hour delayed. But I knew this from the reviews and was not too surprised.
We started driving very quickly with a full bus. In San Jose we stopped for gas and the coordinator/​manager (not sure) came to tell us that they had some fires the previous day and needed to drive another route and that today, they wanted to make sure they have enough gas, in case something like this happened again.
The guy was friendly and joked around with us, he furthermore introduced us to the driver who was friendly and kind.
I felt comfortable in the bus at all times, also with the driving style of both the drivers (midway the drivers changed, the one that came from LA took over and drove back to LA — this is great because then you know that the drivers are knowledgeable about the driving habits in their cities)
One stop is enough in my opinion, since there also is a toilet on the bus. In many reviews I read that there is no toilet paper. Well, I did not use the bathroom but usually on such low cost trips it’s always helpful to bring hand sanitizer and tissues. just in case…
My ticket was $ 33 for one way. I know I could have gotten a much cheaper ticket when booking in advance and maybe also not at Labor Day weekend. Well, I still think that $ 33 is a very reasonable price for a booking one week in advance and regarding the fact that there was Monday off.
I would definitely recommend the bus ride to others and consider taking it myself again.
With keeping in mind to bring tissues and a book (since there is no wifi — which is not too bad, we can do 8 hours without, right?) and not being too strict on arrival/​waiting times it is a very pleasant and cheap way to travel between the two cities.

The only not-​good thing is that there is no Wi-​Fi even though they say that there is – at least not the 4 times I’ve travelled. Otherwise it is great, especially since they drop-​off in Santa Monica. No other SF-​LA bus service does that. And the Powell Street pick-​up is really easy easy to get to on BART. In addition, not only do they allow TWO pieces of luggage – for an additional $ 15 you can also get the seat next to you. So relax and enjoy the ride.

I travel CA Shuttle Bus around SF and LA for couple times. My trips were pretty smooth most of the time, and the drivers are not only really nice, but also very dependable. I lost my wallet at my latest trip, but I wasn’t sure where I lost it and very anxious about it. The company contacted me to pick it up the second day, and I REALLY appreciate it! I highly recommend this company for its service and overall quality.

In comparison to Greyhound California Shuttle Bus is a dream. The people on it are not ghetto (I’ve had too many scary incidents on Greyhound) and slightly cheaper than Greyhound. Being dropped off in Union Square next to Powell Street BART is convenient. The AC blasted cold and there were TVs. My bus didn’t have wifi as advertised so that bugged me but I’ll get over it. All in all — you can’t complain if you pay peanuts to get down to LA.

These people have abysmal customer service. I wrote them by email to inquire about extra luggage, and if we could pay extra to bring more stuff, and their response was to tell me to use someone else.
After reviewing their website, I see that it actually says you CAN bring more luggage, so I wrote them again to verify this, and instead of addressing my concerns, they once again told me to go somewhere else. Fine! I will! And so will the approximately 6 people I was taking on this trip!

I was trying to catch the bus for my friend in Hollywood Location and i called them to inform i was going to be late 1 – 2 minutes because there is something going on 5 blocks away. So the driver (also owner) who has that 408 area code number picked up the phone and he was extremely rude to me and to my friend saying all those ignorant words even though i was only late 1 minute to the location.
He was keep saying put the whatever f… review, i have done it before etc…
and then i called to dispatcher to get a discount at least for next day; what happened? Same deal, another rude person…
Definitely that rudest and ignorant owner ruined our days. I have never experienced any other awful customer service like this one in LA before. What a losers…

Surprised at the low rating. I took the shuttle bus from LA to SF a couple of weeks ago and was quite impressed. As someone who travels by coach regularly (worldwide) it was a pretty decent service. The coach was clean, the drivers were really friendly, the seats had good leg room and the price was really great (I paid $ 40 for a last minute seat but it’s only $ 25 further in advance).
They were pretty much on time for the pickup in LA, though we arrived in SF an hour late it was mainly due to a traffic accident on the freeway.
My only negative point would be that the on-​board toilet was a portaloo type thing rather than a flushing toilet that I’ve been used to on other coaches, but not a huge deal.
I’m using the service again next month too

Protip: If you don’t see an email confirmation after making a reservation, check your SPAM folder.
I booked a ticket to LA but two days later decided to carpool with a friend instead. CSB’s website says no cancellations and no exceptions, but I noticed that they hadn’t charged my card yet so I emailed and ask if they could make an exception, and they did! They wrote back quickly and cheerfully canceled my booking without penalty.
Don’t count on exceptions being a regular occurrence, but from what I’ve experienced, CSB knows how to make a customer happy.

Here’s a friendly FYI to prospective travelers from the East Bay. Even though the site says they do pickup at Bayfair BART station in San Leandro, the man on the phone told me that they no longer provide that service.
«But your web site says that you do.»
«Oh well, we’re keeping that up in case we change our minds about it in the future.»
Can I just say: @@