I travel between Cincinnati and New York City by bus which takes almost exactly 12 hours. Most bus companies leave late at night and arrive early in the morning making this mode of transportation very convenient because you go to sleep in one city and wake up in another. Another extremely convenient aspect of traveling by bus is often times you can buy the ticket the day you leave and the best part is no TSA grabbing your junk before boarding. I've bought my tickets on gotobus.com which is also extremely convenient and the price you see is the price you pay. It seems gotobus.com is the Expedia or Kayak for buses. I've had a good experience on most buses but my least favorite is Sky Horse. Most of the buses with the e. xception of Sky Horse never entirely fill up because they make very few stops between the two cities making the ride very comfortable. On the contrary Sky Horse is always packed because they make seemingly unlimited stops until the bus is entirely full. Once on they move the people like herds of cattle. Prices vary depending on the season but no price is worth being moved like cattle. Aditionally the bus smelled kind of bad and the drivers talked all night making it hard to sleep which defeats the entire purpose of taking the overnight bus. Gotobus.com is a great site and provides a good service. When deciding which bus to take, take any except Sky Horse. read more

I have taken the Sky Horse many, many times over the last few years. I have stories of crazy people, weird stops, and uncomfortable bus sleeping positions like everybody else does. But here's what you need to know more than anything: This bus is worth it. It's 60 freaking dollars. 60 bucks from the middle of Ohio to NYC. Much cheaper than flying. Yes, you chose the cheap option! It ain't fancy! But it gets you to your destination in one piece. You get what you pay for and then some. Of course you can't really sleep-it's a freaking night bus. Of course people are rude- people are rude everywhere *especially* when it comes to transportation. But for $60 this is a wonderful bus. I am broke (perpetually) and this bus has gotten me home cheaply and quickly for life events I would have had to miss otherwise. Tips: I always carry pepper spray. A blanket is a good idea, PA is cold at night. Hold your bladder until the 5 AM rest stop if you can because ew, bus bathroom. Bring a snack And deal with it. Or be fancy and spend your money on a flight. But I fly a lot too. Planes are about as comfortable as busses these days. At least on the Sky Horse you only paid $60. Godspeed. read more

I think many of these buses probably couldn't get a 5-star if they wanted to. Its just the nature of the business that the entire thing is going to suck. The first time I took this to Columbus actually it wasn't bad at all. It was a holiday weekend, and somehow I had a seat to myself and a relatively quiet bus ride. My window opened itself at one point, which was scary and we had to stop the bus to close it. But overall, the ride was ok. The staff at the station is super weird. Strange signs. Curiously enough, you cannot transport your Sky Horse on the bus as they have signs that say "no animals". The second time I took it was a fucking nightmare. 100% packed bus. Half the people on there had attitudes with each other. The seats felt even closer together and shittier (different bus?), and the lady behind me had an infant that kept jumping and and screaming in alternate. How about no children on the bus? I'm ok with someone's cat- they don't make noise. Even bring your Sky Horse- just no children please. The AC didn't seem to work. I could barely open my laptop to check my email for work. No power on the bus. We stopped several times, including a stop by the side of the highway for the driver to take a piss. And at some weird apartment complex for 30 minutes while they changed drivers or something? Unsure. It was weird. No sleep was had this night and it sucked. I wish there was a passenger train to Columbus Ohio, but there is none. Oh well, until then, its this or Greyhound and they are both terrible. read more

I CANNOT WAIT FOR MEGABUS TO TAKE THIS OVER. I have taken the bus more than a dozen times and have only ONE good experience. I get to the station and there had been an error with the website so my ticket is for the wrong date. Instead of letting me switch or giving me any kind of discount I have to buy a brand new ticket for $60. Skyhorse allows three different times (8:30pm, 9:00pm, and 9:30pm) to buy tickets for the bus from NYC to Ohio. HOWEVER THERE IS ONLY ONE BUS THAT ARRIVED AT 10pm. The bus is always completely booked, no power, or wifi. I have also gotten a twelve hour stomach flu from this bus. Drivers are rude and probably working illegal hours since I've never seen driver switch on my 12 hour journey. ONLY RIDE IF 100% necessary. read more

Our luggage was stolen from the bed of the bus. The employees either let someone get in there or they took it. read more

Sky Horse Bus - Worse bus ever - Buses Near Me - New York, New York

The worst experience of my life. I had booked a ticket from Madison Heights to NYC. The bus was scheduled at 11.30 pm. I waited for the bus from 10.30pm till 12.30am. The bus never turned up and the customer care number would go directly to the voice mail. I was left waiting there for 2 hours in the midnight. I would highly suggest everyone to stay away from these frauds. Book at your own risk!!! read more

I was intrigued when a friend told me that there is an overnight bus from NY to Columbus, and it only cost $50 each way. I wanted to try it just once. I figured, why take a plane when I can saddle up a Sky Horse. The bus was crowded, but it was no worse than any other bus ride I've experienced, buses being my least favorite mode of transportation. The second time was much worse. It was either raining or there was water (I hope it was water) coming from the roof dripping down on to me and several other passengers. The bus was filled to capacity, as it was on my first trip, and there was nowhere else to sit. I used my coat and the ropes on the luggage shelf to construct a crude shelter to keep the water, or whatever liquid it was, from dripping on me. This seemed to work, and I maintained a fair degree of dryness throughout the rest of the trip. The driver took a really long time to make a stop, well beyond the halfway point of the trip. It was not until I was in the restroom that I felt the bus pull over. The restroom was what you would expect, and it made me long for the slightly better smelling Porta-Johns found at state fairs, rodeos and tractor pulls. The driver pulled off at a truck stop just off the PA turnpike for gas. Once everyone was back on the bus, it seemed that the driver was taking a long time to get back. He eventually got on, and approached another passenger. He told the passenger that his credit card was declined, and asked to borrow money to pay for gas. He and passenger both got out of the bus, later to return and we were on our way. The driver eventually paid the man back either when we go to Columbus or at the hotel where they swap drivers, I can't remember. In hindsight, I think I took the bus to teach myself the lesson that when you see a flight for around $250 to Columbus, you buy that ticket right then and there. Do not wait for the price to fall, because that ain't gonna happen. I knew what I was getting into, but truth be told it's cheaper and takes less time than Greyhound. It was unrealistic for me to expect to experience anything better than I experienced. read more

I've taken this bus several times. And it is what it is. It's cheap. But if you're expecting any kind of customer service, you will not get it here. And I'm fine with that. Biggest gripe however is the buses do not leave at consistent times. Buses are often late or leave 20 minutes early. Most recent time I tried taking the bus, bus left at least 20 minutes early and I couldn't get on. I called customer service and they screamed at me that the bus was leaving at midnight as scheduled and I pleaded with them "I'm standing at your front entrance, the door is locked and the bus is gone" to her saying "bus leaves at midnight. Buy another ticket." And of course the bus is sold out for the next few days, I can't go back to work. Really don't know how this bus is legal to begin with anyways, because they haul ass about 90mph the whole way and have hit things while I've been riding. read more

Nov. 15, 2012 Took Sky Horse from Columbus, Ohio to New York City. It was awful! The driver drove and dangerously high rates of speed. Many passengers were shouting asking him to slow down. No repsonse. We stopped at a seedy hotel for them to change drivers. Noone was allowed to get off the the bus and a Chinese Man stood guard outside the bus. The new driver drove just as fast while texting and scrolling down his smart phone. We felt like we were hostages on the bus. The bus smelled and many seats were permanently reclined. Customer Service has been worthless so far. Attempting to get my money back. We chose not to return on this bus fearing for our lives. Flew home on airplane instead. read more

AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL. PLEASE SKIP AND JUST TAKE AN AIRPLANE IF YOU CAN SPEND IT. (incident June 26, bus 0705) The ride from Dayton to NYC was tolerable, but it was scary as no sign is indicated in the parking lot where to wait for the bus, so I feared I was in the wrong spot (and the website and ticket don't give more info than "in the parking lot of the restaurant"). The ride back was horrific. The drivers both ways were total jerks (didn't help load luggage, were curt), but the trip on the way back was over the top. In Dayton we didn't have assigned seats, but in NYC they made us sit in assigned seats...AND DIDNT TELL ANYONE UNTIL THREE-QUARTERS HAD BOARDED. So, you can imagine everyone was annoyed and yelling, having to move after they'd stored their items and sat next to their friends/family. Once we finally departed late, we were pulled over by a police car and waited for 30 minutes. Why? Who knows, the driver never informed us. Was he speeding in a construction zone? Taillight out? We were never told. A few hours later into the trip after we got going again, the gentleman in front of me had water dripping on his head from a leak in the roof, it had been raining hard in the night. The man got up and talked to the driver and came back to his seat. A few minutes later, the driver suddenly pulled the bus over and came back to the gentleman's seat. They both swore at each other for ten minutes, using big racial slurs, and a few others on the bus started to yell too. The passenger kept yelling that he needed the leak fixed and couldn't stay seated there, and the bus driver kept yelling back that he's only the bus driver and to deal with it. Now, no doubt the bus rider was a bit crazy, but this situation could have been rectified with two skills the bus driver DID NOT HAVE and SHOULD HAVE HAD: de-escalation skills and the ability to read his own passenger roster. If the driver could have just taken a big deep breath and apologized to the passenger that he does not know how to fix the leak and to please bear with it, the insane argument wouldn't have escalated the way it did. Second, if the driver had any kind of brain, he would have consulted his passenger list and SEEN THERE WAS AT LEAST ONE EMPTY SEAT ON THE BUS THE DRIVER COULD HAVE MOVED HIM TO. After some time, the passenger did move to this empty seat and sat there the rest of the ride. So that guy was a bozo too if he saw this empty seat and still created a stink. However, the incident didn't end after the argument. The driver finally spat out that he was kicking the passenger off the bus and he was calling the cops. We sat an additional 45 minutes while the bus driver "called the cops" outside the bus. No cops showed up, but suddenly the driver got back in and started the bus. We all thought things were fine, then the driver pulled off at the next exit and got out for ten minutes. I was just about to stand up and find the driver and scream my head off at him (and risk getting thrown off myself) when another driver boarded, without saying anything, and pulled away. I'm pretty sure the first driver pretended to call the cops and just called his replacement to wake him up and tell him the issues he was having on the bus. All in all, HORRIBLE. No communication at all between driver and passengers, and the driver at that is completely inept. Oh, and there was NO TOILET PAPER on either trip in the bathroom. Zero toilet paper! I'm pretty sure this bus line barely is legal, the way they operate. Save yourselves the heartache, take a plane. read more

Last weekend (May 30th-June1st) I traveled on the bus from Chinatown to Virginia Beach. I was visiting a friend for her baby shower and flying was too pricey, so I decided to take the bus for $60 roundtrip. I had taken the bus back in 2005 and it wasn't bad. People have had some bad experiences which I guess I should be very thankful I had a very easy ride. I took the 3:30pm bus on Friday and there were only 8 other riders which was great. I got my own seat to stretch out across and to my surprise there were outlets at every seat for charging! That saved my life because I read a book on my phone the entire time. We got on the road at exactly 3:30pm and hit rush hour traffic in Newark which set us an hour behind schedule. We got into Virginia Beach at 11:30 and I literally had no complaints. Sunday I took the bus at 9:15am and had another good experience and got into NYC at 5:15pm. This bus had more people on it and stopped a few times, but I still had my own two seats to spread out on. (Both stopped at the Clara Barton rest stop for the riders to get food and use the bathroom.) The outlets on both buses only worked on the left side of the bus (drivers side) so if you take the bus, try to get a seat on that side. I put up a few pictures to show it was a new bus with comfy seats and a decent amount of leg room. I'm not sure if each destination gets different buses, but I booked of gotobus.com and the company was called NY Tiger. Obviously 8 hours on a bus is not that enjoyable, but they didn't make it any worse. read more

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Is it as bad as Y&H, or is it worse? Shady unscheduled stops. Drivers fighting on the side of the road. Changing drop off locations without notice. And, the deal breaker, sending an email notice cancelling your trip less than an hour before it is to take place. read more

These people are the ultimate worst. They screw up tickets, don't give refunds, scramble schedules, and have the customer service skills of a proficient anal rapist. I've had many awful experiences with them, so many I swore them off, but I needed to see a friend of mine who was having medical procedures and this was a very short notice trip. They told me to wait two blocks down, no bus ever came, and when I asked when the bus would come I was told it didn't come and "too bad for me." If you can make your trip by crawling through glass on bloodied limbs, choose that before you use these assholes. read more

Bus trip from Hell! No AC, No Power, No Wifi, No Toilet paper on the bus. Not that I would have used the bathroom anyway, it has not been cleaned since Clinton left office. Asked about the toilet paper and was told we had to bring our own. I get that it is cheap and you get what you pay for, so in the future I will fly or even take my chances hitching before riding the bus. read more

I want to share my experience to let everyone know. When we arrive at our stop my daughter and I realized that our luggage had been stolen. The bus driver acted like he couldn't care less of our situation and did nothing to help us. We found a phone number which was only answer once and never got an answer about what we could do to find our luggage. I wouldn't recommend this to any one and hopefully this review will help someone from going through what we went thorough. Just very upset at the situation and how hopeless we feel. read more

DO NOt, I repeat DO NOT ever take this bus. You think you are going to save money but in the long run you are going to lose! There must be a ring of thieves working these buses to steal your luggage! My college student was trying to save money to travel to NYC with a friend. She and another woman on the same bus had their luggage stolen! I feel like they targeted the only white people on the bus!! These thieves need to be caught and brought to justice! Lesson learned! Spend the extra money on a flight! Should be negative stars! read more

I took Sky Horse's night bus from Canal street, Manhattan to Columbus Ohio and it was a terrible experience. * The back half of the buss was stinking urine from the toilet (that lacked water) * The seating is extremely cramped - they fit about 55 seats - 2 + 2 seats per row and very little legroom. (Long haul buses for comfortable travel take 1 + 2 seats per row) * No announcements what so ever was made by the driver regarding where or how long the next stop would be. * The bus appeared to be speeding very often, giving an insecure impression * No seat belts read more

IS THERE A WAY TO GIVE NEGATIVE STARS IN A REVIEW??? I wouldn't recommend this service to anyone I wanted to live. I was disturbed by the OBSCENE driving on this bus trip. I have taken this bus many times between New York and Columbus. Each of those issues was never enough to make me regret purchasing a ticket, until my most recent trip. To say I was scared would be a huge understatement. The driving on this bus was atrocious: 1. Speeding. We passed every single vehicle, small and large, that was on the road with us. This the middle of the night, when it is dangerous to not follow general road rules. In addition to it being nighttime, most of the highways we took were very windy and ran through mountainous areas. An accident in an area like that would surely have been fatal, especially at such high speeds and with inclement visibility due to darkness. 2. Riding vehicle's rear ends. Before passing any vehicle, the driver routinely came up behind other vehicles at an extremely unsafe distance, and get over into the next lane very quickly, cutting them off. This treatment was given to other large buses and semis as well as small sedans, SUVs, and other cars. I am thankful the other vehicles did not choose to get over into the same lane we would swerve into after tailing them, which would have led to a messy collision. The sheer size of the bus would not have allowed for quick breaking if necessary, and we could have easily rear-ended multiple cars. 3. Straddling lanes. The roads we took were not only very windy and hilly, but they were also primarily two-lane highways. For the vast majority of the night, the driver was straddling both lanes, riding somewhere in the center of them both, but not without intermittently swaying from one side to another. This also provided a nice padding for speedy turns so that the driver did not have to slow down as much. Not once was a turn signal used in the switching of lanes (lanes were only adhered to when passing other vehicles and once when we passed a cop car pulled over), but most importantly, we were riding in an unsafe abyss between lane definition almost the entire time. 4. No yielding of inclement conditions. As previously mentioned, the highways were dark, windy and hilly. None of this was taken into account on the part of the driver as he operated this large bus. Many areas of the roads we were were also under construction (hence the two lane restriction in some areas). How the driver could possibly have mistaken hundreds (and probably thousands) of orange cones, reflective tape, and temporary cement barriers, and orange reduced-speed signs for anything other than large construction zones, is beyond me. There are signs for a reason, though clearly any recognition of rules and signs was out the window far before we encountered any construction zones, as noted in the instances above and below. 5. Driver distraction due to other passengers. The driver was obviously not prepared for this trip with the correct and necessary amount of caution and attentiveness. I think all of this faulty driving would have occurred on his own, but the situation was not helped by the loud distraction of fellow passengers. Fellow passengers in a huge bus that sped, straddled lanes and swerved around cars and construction. There were at least 3 other passengers sitting very close to and behind the driver's seat who chatted for hours while all of these other mistakes were going on. I do not know for sure, since none of the company bus drivers or attendees wear a uniform or can be identified in any clear way other than one of them has a pair of keys (this is also an issue I think should be addressed), but I do think that some of the people chatting with and near the driver were part of the company. They were very clearly friends with each other and paid no heed to the fact that a bus full of paying customers was trying to sleep in the middle of the night. This raucous group also seemed not to care that many laws were being broken while they enjoyed their time distracting an already horrific driver. What is perhaps most terrifying is that one of the passengers sat directly behind the driver, leaning far over the protective plexi-glass barrier behind him, and talking loudly in his ear with phone in hand, showing him things on the screen. I could not make out any of the words shouted, they all spoke a different language than I, but I know without a doubt that they couldn't have been talking about the read more

Every time the bathroom door opened you could smell an over whelming smell of urine. I hardly take a bus but have had a great experience with mega bus. This is nothing like megabus! This is awful!!!! read more

I only gave this place 1 star because I had to. If it were up to me, I'd give them -5 stars! If you are desperate, and I do mean desperate to get someplace, ride on this bus. Otherwise, find another way... hitchhike if you have to. Yes this bus is that bad! Why you ask? Plenty of reasons, but the main reason, two words-It's disgusting. The inside of the bus- the windows, the floors, the seats, and the bathroom-all are visibly disgusting. And I'm not a picky person either, but when it comes to traveling by Skyhorse, Tiger bus, Seagull bus, Jaguar bus or whatever other alias they use, I'd rather not even travel. read more

This bus service is one of the worse things I have ever experienced. First off the bus ratted the entire drive and if that isn't disconcerting I don't know what it. Then the driver refuses to put on the air conditioning and turns on the heat. Please keep in mind it is June and the bus is completely fun. When I was leaving New York they changed the time we were leaving without actually telling anyone so I arrived an hour and a half before we actually were able to leave. Luckily the location in New York was less grubby than the location in columbus but it was still like we were in a cover store for something illegal in the back. Throughout the entire ride the drives takes extremely loud to one another and kept taking phone calls and screaming into the phone. On the way to New York we were pulled over and were searched by the police and they refused to tell us why OUR luggage was looked at. I can not see how this is an actual business and not just a front for something else. The busses are crap and with the money they seem to get they could get an actual bus. I won't use them again read more

This is the most disgusting bus I have ever been on! The staff is so rude. The building is so scary and the people are creepy. I wanted to take my mother and daughter, turn around, and drive 21/2 hours back to my home and forget about the trip to NYC!!!! Driver was horrible! He only stopped at a rest stop one time. One other time he actually pulled the bus over to the side of the road to take a leak in plain sight!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would never recommend this to ANYONE. DO NOT USE THIS 'SERVICE'. IT IS NASTY read more

I've taken a Skyhorse bus twice from Columbus to NYC. The bus was full both times. I have never had WiFi access on the bus, despite it being advertised on the website where you buy tickets. The website offers multiple departure times, but on my second trip I bought a ticket for a 10pm departure, and the bus didn't leave until after 11pm, and arrive in NYC about 2hrs,45min later than scheduled, causing me to miss my connecting bus and have to buy another ticket. When I called Skyhorse to complain, they screamed at me for not buying ticket insurance. I think there may actually be only one departure time, the latest one. read more

I have traveled in many different countries using many different modes of transportation and I can honestly say that Skyhorse Bus is the absolute worst bottom of the barrel way to travel. PERIOD! I wasn't smart enough to google the company before we bought tickets but suffice to say, every single review here EXCEPT for the one who gave the company 4 stars is exactly accurate. I would give this company NEGATIVE stars if it was an option. How many? 4 negative stars. The only reason I wouldn't give it the full 5 negative stars is because I didn't die during the trip. I could not get off this bus fast enough on the ride back from New York to Cincinnati. Bear in mind that this bus ride was from NYC to Cincinnati which is 12 hours. It was 90 degrees when we arrived at the bus station in Chinatown. Here are the highlights. 1) The bus station had no A/C. 2) The bus was late 3) The bus had no A/C when it arrived.4) Not one single person who works or drives for this so called company speaks english as a first language. 5) The bus doesn't have toilet paper. The bus was well over 100 degrees inside when we left the station in NYC. Many people complained about the temperature but the bus driver acted like he didn't hear us. He did stop at some point and went outside in the first hour after we got out of NYC and acted like he adjusted something and then opened the emergency hatch on the roof to let some air in but this didn't make a whole lot of difference. It was still 100 degrees on the bus. It did cool off a bit after about 4 hours. I felt more like a hostage than a passenger during the ride. The bus driver actually had the audacity to make fun of the passengers that complained about the temperature on the bus. The bus made 3 unscheduled stops during the trip. 2 were for the driver. No one else was allowed to get off the bus during these stops. Once so he could get coffee and once so he could use the restroom. He didn't even use the restroom on his own bus. I assume they never clean this BTW. It was super nasty. I would consider peeing in my pants before going back in that bathroom ever again. Oh? the 3rd unscheduled stop? The bus driver was pulled over for speeding in a construction zone. We made a stop in Columbus Ohio and finally were switched on a bus with functioning A/C only because they consolidated our bus with one that had left earlier driving the same route. I say functioning because it only worked in the front of the bus. I did make it back to Cincinnati alive. That is the only good part of the trip. Did I honestly feel like my life was in jeopardy during the trip? Absolutely. Driving a bus packed to capacity at high speeds is downright dangerous. Driving a bus packed to capacity with 60 passengers that is 100 degrees without any A/C where everyone is sweating like they are doing yard work made me feel like I was sitting in a germ incubator. This is transportation at it's absolute worst. I didn't make any of this up. I didn't exaggerate. You can't complain to anyone because no one frankly cares and no one speaks english to communicate your complaint to. Call the phone number for the Skyhorse Bus Company for yourself if you don't believe me. A rude Chinese man who speaks broken English will answer the phone and will most likely won't answer any of your questions due to the language barrier. Ask them if there is really Wifi on the bus. Ask them if they have basic things like A/C and toilet paper on the bus. The answer is No, No, and NO! Oh, BTW. I felt like I actually considered burning the clothes that I wore on the bus ride back. I totally disinfected and then washed everything else that came into contact with any surface on the bus like my backpack and my luggage. You have been warned. read more

Overnight bus to NYC from Ohio seemed like a great idea, but the Sky Horse bus was a horror. This company advertises departure times for buses that might be an hour apart, but if the earlier bus is not full, they then combine the two without even telling the passengers! It is obvious that they never intended to run both buses at all. We arrived for the Sky Horse bus at 10:25 for the 10:45 departure time, but no bus arrived at 10:45 to pick us up. Instead more people showed up for the 11:45 bus and finally one bus arrived and they shoved all the passengers on that one bus---they never even communicated a thing to all of us earlier passengers. We were finally on the road at 11:55, more than an hour later than our original (bogus, apparently) scheduled departure. When I had asked the guy working the desk about what was going on, why the 10:45 was so late, he simply replied in broken English "it coming, one minute, one minute" which proved to be a complete lie. I don't believe they ever intended to run two buses at all, but just advertise this so they can get people to book, then they make you wait for hours to put everyone on the same bus. There was also a 50 minute "pee break" when the driver disappeared--we all just stood there in the doorway of the 7-11 thinking we only had a few minutes (the driver never communicated anything to us--we were already more than an hour behind due to their shady practices to fill the buses!) At the end of the trip I asked the driver why they never told us that they were combining the buses and leaving at the later time. The driver then proceeded to scream at me and tell me that he is "just driver", then he screamed "now you take Greyhound then!" and stormed off. I realize that at the price you can't expect great service but to be instead verbally abused and treated like a inmate is simply outrageous. I will never, ever ride the Sky Horse bus again---I'd rather walk all the way to NYC over hot coals. read more