Doing a return bus ride a fortnight on, and re rating a notch lower…read more... Bus filthy on top deck. Instant loss of star right there Old filth. Hasn't enjoyed a proper clean in ages = careless poor management. No Power Point (plug in for devices on a 5+ hour journey) No food stops en route, Sunday closings in Palmerston North = Unfortunately unacceptable. Pilot with "she'll be right, mate" attitude failed to impress. As the trip was safely completed on schedule... Albeit lots of room for improvement = 2 star Not more. Haven't used a bus from one city to another in a very long time. Greyhound............ back in America......maybe 2008 = s c a r y on all accounts, so it was with trepidation I gathered info to make a ground transport road trip 180 miles approx. Wellington to Napier on the north island of New Zealand. As their website was cryptic, attempted to communicate through a 'chat' with a real person. Got misinformation re service charges / ticket prices from their Auckland call centre, and discovered they have no walk in office in the CAPITAL city, Wellington. 1000's of 'agents' throughout the country said the 'chat' person ? hmmm as the funny feller on LAFF In used to say....VVVVery interesting...but... They have no pricing for senior / super gold card holder / grey power as such, they do have a sliding scale depending on dates, school holidays, time of day etc etc but tuff to get a handle on it...kinda like nailing a blob o jello to a tree. I decided on their 'GOLD' service bus, advertised as: free WiFi, leather seat, again crypticly not saying it's a 1st class service but an extra 15 bucks approx, departs mid afternoon, a 5 hour 40 minute journey for the 300kms / 180 miles seemed reasonable, since we recently drove our own vehicle in just over an hour LESS (with a rest stop). Reality: pay cash to the driver* on platform 9 at Wellington train depot, no service charge just 54bucks. disgruntled*, having to issue a receipt, (apologized to him for causing him so much trouble) took a non adjustable uncomfortable coach seat at the front of the bus. WiFi works okay most of the journey. Ride is relatively smooth, state of NZ roads notwithstanding. Driver, highly skilled & knowledgeable navigates through the many villages as we stop at designated zones, picking up / dropping off as required. A man of few words, "no food / drink / don't leave rubbish on bus/ use an earpiece make no noise" message delivered personally on his P/A system. " keep my bus clean n tidy" ( it is ! ) Schedule is spot on as I monitor time from my mobile phone, departs Wellington EXACTLY at 2pm, Palmerston North EXACTLY 5 pm, arrives Napier 2 minutes early 738pm. Yelp ratings: INfinitly better than my prior bus trip in North America, in that once on board it was predictable, not smelly, rest stop at half way point in Palmerston N. was brief, functional, loos clean. Lose a star for seating comfort. Lose a star for cryptic unhelpful website / chat services. Value? compared to Air NZ who wanted the better part of 300 bucks, this ground transport @ $54 is relative, maybe a 2.55. May use Intercity Bus again, avoiding the 'upsell' and look for the elusive 'cheap fare', apparently one seat per journey is sold for $1 ? it is rumoured, then they have their various 'service charges' depending on how a booking is effected? I did mention it's 'cryptic'. The leather upholstery on a non ergonomic non adjustable frame didn't mean the seat was a good un' ( it wasn't ! & my butt hurt!) Round up to 3 stars because of the SKILLED driving ability of the otherwise non communicative pilot who spoke only to criticize me for paying cash, which "he's responsible for if he loses it" ? hmmm.

Absolutely TERRIBLE experience!…read more I booked a intercity bus from National Park to Auckland CBD. Unfortunately on the way to Hamilton, the bus broke down. The driver said there would be another bus coming from Hamilton in 1 hour. But the bus actually arrived after 3 hrs and 30 mins! The driver who was waiting with us, did not give us a heads up that there would be a major delay. And when the driver on the new bus arrived, he did not explain why he was late. Absolutely terrible experience. We waited outside for 3 hours and 30 mins!! No explanation provided by the company or the driver. See image attached on what they emailed & texted the passengers. Zero explanation. It should take no longer than 1 hr to reach us, but for some reason it actually took them more than 3 hrs and 30 mins! We reached Auckland at around 11PM (we were meant to reach there 7PM) This will definitely be my last time using this Intercity bus service. No refund or discount or explanation provided to passengers. Absolutely pathetic service.

Didn't have proper instructions listed for summertime, ended up taking the after-hours shuttle…read morewhich took us someplace else. Had to rent an uber to get to the rental car facility when the phone number listed didn't work. The car itself was old (not such a problem) but was equipped with a Japanese GPS that couldn't be disabled and looked like it was defaulted to Tokyo despite our being in North Island, New Zealand. This is a "get what you pay for" proposition and you're going to get a very good deal if you rent ahead of time here.

Email I sent BRC- This has been one of the worst travel…read moreexperiences of my life. To make matters worse, this happened during our honeymoon and too often took the focus off celebrating our relationship. In the hope your company attempts to make this right, the following is a recount of all our issues we had with your vehicles since we stepped foot in New Zealand. We returned the first car after the first night solely because we didn't feel safe driving it to our hotel from the airport. It smelled. The windshield was smeared and affected the visibility especially during the rain. I couldn't read the instrument panel because of moisture that had fogged up inside the panel. This also led to your staff not noticing the gas tank wasn't full as I had to put in $35 worth of gas when I returned it after my one trip to our hotel and back. After we arrived at our hotel, we coordinated switching out the car via email with the support staff. They seemed helpful as they gave us a make and model to switch out the next day. Unfortunately, they didn't communicate that with the branch and it took 2 hours on site to get a new vehicle. The second vehicle we received was better but not by much. It also had limited visibility of the instrument panel but we took it to get our trip under way. During the course of the trip we discovered that the A/C unit only worked periodically. The brakes need servicing and make a god awful, embarrassing shriek throughout the journey. Never failed to make the noise when pulling up to a hotel valet as we caught the attention of everybody in ear shot. It was quite embarrassing. Finally, the car didn't start one morning. We called the AA number and the technician came out and discovered our key fob battery had died. He didn't have a replacement so he rigged two batteries together that could barely get the car started. I ended up having to purchase the correct battery later on because we were so worried the car was going to leave us stranded. I returned the car a day early because I was concerned something else might happen that would cause us to miss our flight on the way home. It was really that bad. Also, the stress of driving an unreliable vehicle really took a toll on my wife. The anxiety definitely rolled over into the "fun" parts of our trip and negatively impacted our experience as a whole. In total, we missed out on a day and a half of our honeymoon dealing with issues with your vehicle and spent an extra $200 in keeping the dang thing operational. The embarrassment of driving that vehicle through town and the anxiety it caused negatively impacted our entire trip. At an absolute minimum, we are requesting: refund of a days charge since we returned it early Credit for the AA technician service since the issue was in no way our fault. ($165) Credit for the battery I had to buy and install in the key fob. ($9.99) Again that is an absolute minimum that we expect to receive. I personally think we should have all of our money returned for putting us in a dangerous, unreliable vehicle, negatively impacting our occasion we chose to trust BRC with, and to show that you do care about the viewpoint of a customer. We intend to write a full review when we get home to save other travelers from our experience. The efforts you take to mitigate our issues will be accounted for in our review. __________________________________________________ After a month of seldom answered emails back and forth, they refunded me about $150 US. Horrendous customer service, poor quality of vehicles, and complete overall dissatisfaction with the company. Only positive I can say is they had availability where others did not. Be careful!

The ferry was great. Cool and very pleasant. The shuttle buses linked to the ferry are…read moreembarrassingly bad. They give you this very specific time schedule. It would be perfect. The wine tasting at the island are fun but a lot of walking. If you tell customers 5:54 then make it 5:54. We got to our bus stop at 5:50. We waited till 6:35. That's beyond unacceptable. I'm not sure what you have to work with outside these explorer buses but don't trust the times AT ALL. Extremely unprofessional company.

The Explore Group opened a service to Waiheke to compete with monopoly Fullers at the end of last…read moreyear. As a commuter, Explore boats are newer and cleaner, the staff genuinely friendly, and there is far better food and drinks selection on board - almond croissant on the way to work anybody? (Don't, it gets addictive). The journey feels far more relaxing. We're yet to see how the smaller boats deal with rough winter seas, but right now it adds a perfect option if you want to catch a ferry approximately half hour out from the Fullers boats. Tip: check out the upstairs indoor cabin- those seats are made for giants.

Traveled from the center of Auckland to International Airport. Very quick. The bus arrives to…read moreDomestic Airport first, international Airport next. You can buy tickets on the bus. There are discounts for children and Seniors (even if you are not residents of New Zealand).

Very beneficial and easy to use transport option for travelers. They offer children and adult rates…read moreand either one way or return. When at the airport, you can purchase tickets by: you can use a NZ card (I'm assuming) at the iSite location, as long as no signature is needed (would not allow me to use my USA debit card). Or you can go outside and before the queue the ticket booth is attached. Easy transaction and the operator ensured I knew where I was going and gave me a map. On board has decent WiFi and comfortable seats. One issue I had, and it's for all of NZ transit, is that they don't announce stops. So I'd recommend talking with the bus driver or familiarizing yourself with the city location so you know when to press "stop" to request getting off the bus. I download maps and save for offline usage and pin point the stop I wanted so I could ensure I didn't miss it. Did not see anyone purchase on board, not sure how it works. I recommend getting tickets for the operator booth and getting a return ticket to save yourself the hassle of having to pay on board (remember, NZ is big on card usage, so it's okay to carry minimal cash for safety).

This bus right here is the bus service for the lazy and the ones that aren't willing to walk from…read moreBritomart to K Road. Sometimes ain't nobody got time to walk up and down Queen Street. I catch this bus when I have time because believe it or not the bus service can actually delay you. Those damned traffic lights that always favour the passengers cause the bus to travel slow. But if you have time and aren't in a hurry then take the bus. It travels from Britomart up Queen Street to Kroad then another travels from Wynard Quarter to Britomart up Queen Street to K Road.

Rural bus station! This place is on the outskirts of…read moreAuckland in Albany. No, this isn't New York. It's their version of the capital of New York, I guess. This transit park n ride terminal is nice, but that's about it. The buses run on time, so I didn't spend too much time here. The bus tickets are automated via kiosk, which are available in the Maori language. There are helpful signs to let you know which bus stops where. They could've used some public art up in here. It's kinda plain looking. There was an inside area where you could get out of the wind or rain, but not much to this place. The bus drivers were friendly, and I managed to get where I wanted to go.

Since moving out to Torbay, this Park and Ride has been so good! It's saved me so much money on…read moreparking and is such a good idea from the city council. It's always packed with cars so you do have to get there early if you want a park. Otherwise you might find yourself walking a bit up the hill to the bus. There are constantly buses arriving so no matter what time you turn up there will usually be a bus not too far off. There's also a great place to wait if you do need it. It's fully covered so is great in the winter months or those rainy summer days that too often frequent our city. Because the bus just hops on the bus lane on the motorway and skips all the traffic. And because you don't need to drive you can read, listen to music, or play games while you're driven there. Brilliant.

Okay. So it's not like the bus in London, Rome or Sydney, but it was a really great way to see the…read morecity especially when traveling with a couple of octogenarians. Stopped at almost all of the stops along the Red Route. Blue Route was less interesting to us. Stop 1- The heart of the city is at the Queens Wharf and the Central Business District. Loved the historic buildings, shops and restaurants. Saw the International Buskers Festival. Watched the boats come into harbor. Stop 2- The Sky Tower is pricy, but gives a great view of the city. A short uphill climb from our hotel apartment. Stop 3- The Art Museum and Albert Park. The Guo Pei exhibit was so interesting. A very eclectic museum. Stop 5- The Auckland War Memorial Museum and the switch to the blue line or red line depending on which way you came. Easy to walk from this stop to the Winter Garden. Stop 6- The Holy Trinity Cathedral. Closed on Auckland Day. Easy to walk from here to Parnell Village and then stop #7. Stop 7- Pick up a lamb or meat pie on the way to this stop. Stop 8- Bastion Point has stunning views of Auckland. The memorial is beautiful as well. Stop 9- The aquarium, because who doesn't love penguins? Happy Feet! Stop 10 - The Winter Garden has the most beautiful flowers in the glass greenhouses. The fernery is interesting, too. Pricy, but we got a great taste of Auckland.

Really good time. Professional helpful really enjoyed our day. I have said enough and think 85…read morecharacters is too much so I write this gibberish

This company is a scam. I had a tour booked with them and had to cancel and they refused to process…read moremy refund unless I gave them all of my banking information including account numbers which would have allowed them complete access to my account. No customer service whatsoever. They are fraudsters. Avoid at all costs.

Rafael was a wonderful driver! We rode with him on the way to the Waitomo Caves from Auckland and…read morehe told us a bunch of New Zealand history on our drive over. The drive to the Waitomo caves was longer than the glow worm tour there itself but I would still highly suggest it. We booked our tour online on the Intercity Bus website under the Day Tours. If you do not have a car, this seems to be the best way to check out the glow worms from Auckland. The bus left promptly at 730am from the Intercity Bus station at 102 Hobson Street and we arrived back in Auckland at around 215pm. The day tour from Auckland and back to Auckland did not include lunch. We packed our own lunch and were able to eat it on the bus ride back (the other people who booked a different tour were able to eat their included lunch on the bus as well). The Waitomo Caves were beautiful. Our tour guide Maria was so funny and personable and she even sang to our group in the cave (because there are some good acoustics in there!!)! She had such a pretty voice too. The caves were such a sight to see and there were tons of glow worms! I kept hoping that one would fall on me but no such luck. You do have to be VERRRRRRY quiet once you are in the boat to see the glow worms so if you have very young children or babies, this wouldn't be the time to take them. You also are not allowed to take pictures in the caves AT ALL which was a little bit of a bummer but you just have to remember to live in the moment and take a picture with your mind ;) It was very easy to book this day trip on the Intercity website and the tour was just what we were looking for. Def recommend going this route if you don't want to drive and just want to enjoy the scenery!