firstbus.co.uk Omdömen 101

Disgust Theives; sold wrong ticket bundle for the zone I needed. Got off bus to view a flat - I have been homeless 4 months, living in bedsits & hotels - unable to get back on bus to get to work. My first day at my new job no less. Tried purchasing another ticket: money left my account but no ticket. Fortunately this bus driver let me on upon seeing receipt email.
Contacted customer support: insistent ticket was in wallet on app (it wasn't); couldn't give refund for unused tickets in the bundle - despite what it says online - suggested I buy more tickets. They did agree to refund the ticket that wouldn't show up. Point blank refused to refund tickets or transfer them to correct zone.
Forced refund through PayPal: now they have submitted a counter claim I have tickets.
I can't use the tickets. I have not used the tickets. They are the wrong tickets & they refuse to change them to the correct zone.
Disgusting behaviour.
I am never ever, using their buses again.
Their app is as useless as their customer service!

my daughters and her friends tapped to get on bus. one friend it didnot work and driver wouldnt let her one but her friends had tapped and moneys from bank paid and driver didnt let her on

First bus Lowestoft need newer buses and heating as not allowed ⛔also reliability as always breaking down and NOT FIT FOR ROAD AND MOT FAKE
10 + year old buses and dirty

Has anyone ever used the UK FirstBus website to file a complaint or request a refund?
It is one of the most customer unfriendly experiences in my life. I don’t even think it was tested out on monkeys let alone human beings. Some pages appear circular in nature taking you back to a previous page. Some of the usual reasons for contact don’t even appear in the dropdown boxes leaving you none the wiser. In the end, it means having to make a selection that bears the least resemblance to a tiny portion of your complaint. Then you are required to fill in a number of boxes (some necessary) for which you do not have the necessary information. It then becomes necessary to abandon that approach. I have tried live chat before, if you can actually get through because it often states staff are unavailable.
While the passenger experience can occasionally be dodgy with phantom buses in the apparent ‘live’ timetable, they are often known never to turn up. And if you are ‘lucky’, one turns up when you least expect it and it’s not showing on the live map.
They’ve recently introduced Tap On Tap Off in Berkshire and Thames Valley, but most days the Tap Off reader is often not working.
Quite frankly, I despair.
Last Saturday, (6th December), it was supposed to be a “Slough Super Saturday” where most bus travel was supposed to be free. Guess what! It wasn’t, unless the bus driver liked you, it seems. But as I’ve discovered today, I’ve been charged for a bus journey I never even made on Sunday. I’m presently assuming it is an error and should have actually been a refund for the Saturday travel. I live in hope…

Rubbish. Buses frequently fail to turn up. It's impossible to rely on them if you need to get more than one bus to get somewhere - you can easily end up stranded as the bus you needed to catch is cancelled, or the bus you're on first is delayed or cancelled meaning you miss your next bus.
Cannot believe that in 2025 the bus system in the UK is still as bad as ever. We need to learn from pretty much every other country in the world.
There's no way you're going to get people away from the convenience of cars while the public transport system is so woefully poor and unreliable

Awful bus operator who can’t operate a reliable service for Bristol. They operate services funded by the clean air zone, so are getting paid to run services that they very regularly cancel. That’s theft really, yet still they are granted contracts by WECA which stinks of corruption in my opinion.

I was threatened with violence on the bus and there were three of them. Tw males and one female. One male had a gun in his bag and threatened violence. He said he served in Afghanistan and dominated the whole of the lower ground floor bus throughout the whole journey. There was cctv but the police said it was not clear enough for facial recognition which defeats the object of having cctv on the bus in the first place. The police also said there was no audio. I somehow don't believe that. I did wonder whether First Bus had doctored the cctv. Just seems all so convenient.

Buses are frequently late. Unlike train services where they have a service commitment and will compensate you if the journey is late, buses don't and there is no recourse for their extremely poor record of timekeeping. I've had buses cancelled and my journey delayed by over 1 hour before with nothing but an apology from the company. The app has helped with tracking buses, but isn't always accurate and so can't be relied upon (despite their frequent insistence of checking for updates on the app). The organisation of buses and drivers at our local depot is poorly managed. There's just no accountability and no reliability, in a time where fares are frequently rising, whilst service is declining.

Complete disregard for people who work - buses turn up WHEN and IF they want - drivers who behave as if they are doing you a favour - extortionate prices.

If this was in France half your fleet would have been already on fire. You being in business if proof of how corrupt councils can be.

Bought a ticket, then couldn't do my journey. Asked for a refund on their website. They told me I should have asked this to driver. Then why do they have this refund request on their website? Completely poor customer service.
My ref: 01209068

First bus Bristol. They have been on strike for a few days. So say, two weeks in October. Why not three weeks in November and four weeks in December???? People have managed either with scooters taxis or friends given them lifts or work from home. The public have managed. I wonder whether all the passengers will return to the buses? Maybe.......maybe not! How about some of the drivers could take customer service refresher courses during the strike. Just a thought.

Firstly I know writing this review is pointless as first bus bristol will just ignore it and do nothing about it, beacuase that is just what they do , but I will write it anyway.
They have dangerous and unsafe vehicles on the road, in the form of these new and extremely dangerous electric bus.
They have fallen into the trap , off putting eco nonsense rubbish, ahead off , safety, price and reliability, which are far more importantly than anything else , but first bus bristol, don't care about , any off that .
They have a customer service team , who are some off the most incompetent people, I have ever contacted.
They blame you for the incidents , they are rude and insulting, I don't want to call any individual out as they are all as bad as each others.
But milo is the one who has contacted me most , he is just completely unfit to do his job .
And now they have the nerve to go on strike , wow , they are all completely overpaid as it is .
They inconvenience passengers when the buses are running, now they have made it twice as bad now they have ho on strike .
Unbelievable.
I don't believe for one minute, I will get a response from anyone at first bus , because as I say they just ignore everything .
So this review was a complete waste off time .
But it needs to be written anyway.

Many thanks ! .

Craig Thatcher.

The 235 bus suddenly stops, we were told that we are not moving for the next 5 mins, this is to regulate the service. No consideration given to those on the bus, we are struggling to get to work on time. This is not a one off occurrence but a daily one. Utter shambles...do the bus company care? I think not...

I was running towards a 22 bus in Canvey island to go to Benfleet with my hand out to show i needed to catch it as i got near the door the driver shut the doors and drove off it was blatantly obvious to the other people that i was flagging him down drivers like him are a disgrace and should not be employed

I have given feedback on the firstbus.co.uk portal but unfortunately it is only at the end that they tell you they will not respond. I'm left feeling, it's unlikely to be taken seriously. So I can have the satisfaction of putting a Google review instead.
We had a lovely weekend break in Leeds and started our trip with a bus ride on the 229 into Leeds. We were staying at the Elland Road Premier Inn. The bus took us nicely to the central station. At the end of the day we returned to the bus station to catch the bus back, only to find the 229 had been cancelled. No explanation, no advice. We looked at the map and the closest route back was the 52. We boarded it in due course. Our closest stop was Heath Mount and we asked the driver to two tickets. His ignorant and dismissive response was "I don't stop there", so we asked if he went to Elland Road "never heard of it" was his response. Thankfully one of the other passengers explained that the bus does go to Elland Road and then it sunk in and he agreed that he did go there. We got off at Elland Road and walked for 3/4 of an hour back to our hotel. The driver may have been intending to ruin our weekend, well he didn't, but he's clearly in the wrong job. Suggest you look at your ticket and if at all possible avoid conversing with driver number 423312.

This is for the Firstbus Glasgow and the customer service:
I think I had a return ticket, £17, for the 500 service to/from the airport. Buying the ticket wasn't straightforward as the 500 service is in a separate region from Greater Glasgow. Going from the airport was easy, and on that leg of the hour, I had no issues - very smooth and quick service to central Glasgow.
Despite a live barcode, the return ticket wasn't accepted on the bus and flagged as “expired.” For my return trip, I had to buy a single journey ticket for £11. The bus driver wasn't the most helpful, but the ticket booth staff at the airport was. The lady at the booth scanned my “expired” return ticket and deemed it working, then advised me to use the app to report the incident.
The app is horrible, and finding a way to contact is painful so email anyone you find online.
So, one week later and it's resolved -they “have requested a refund on the single ticket that was purchased as a goodwill gesture” … a goodwill gesture??? They only got the second star for the ticket booth lady, and if they (Milo from customer service) hadn't referred to it as “goodwill,” they would have gotten another one.

532961 driver ash is a good cheerful driver always a cheerful and careful driver she is nice to all customers and is respect to everyone she works for first bus bradford at bowling back lane depot she a good driver very nice and very lovely and friendly with passenger and everyone

I will never understand why people who don't like dealing with the public get jobs dealing with the public. The bus driver on the number 12 to littlesea caravan park obviously needs to go on an intensive people skills course. 11 million people not working in the UK and management can only get this bloke.

I've had several poor experiences with this company across the country over recent years, all handled badly, eg re overcharging, often not turning up... but the bus I was riding on in Suffolk swerved and crashed into a tree. I was one of those with most impact as the entire glass shattered all over me. I was and am very distressed and I am still trying to gain justice. My details of my complaint were passed to a 3rd party without permission and they have been cold and avoidant for nearly 3 months, adding to my trauma.

They make claims about laws regarding such a claim, but when I repeatedly asked for links/references (such laws if they exist are likely to be unlawful) they didn't reply. They took over 2 months to show the redacted CCTV which conveniently misses off the main impact and the glass all over the top deck. Although I have been firm, they have been slow (deliberately, it's believed) and downplaying, changing my subject lines each time and using subtle tactics to undermine. They've not even as much as refunded the ticket of that day, and I've not exactly received after care. Bus Users are aware and they didn't verify the above alleged regulations, which if true mean that the government has sponsored extra trauma for victims and made it very hard to gain justice. This needs scrutiny.

I fear I'll not cope with another bus journey and I'm unwilling to pay First until they suitably compensate me. They admit that their terms are not there to support customer rights and their charter tries to let them dodge repeated no shows and other basic issues.

It is time this over-prevalent company is held to account

UPDATE, FEB 2026
I am still awaiting compensation; First Bus's insurance company have misled regarding the ation I 'must' take and Official Injury Claims and others verified that they are a possible tool/portal, not a required one, and then this company admitted that I could take civil procedures. Every reply from them has taken a month or more, always cold, downplaying, and disingenuous., eg saying "these reasonably requested items" which are not, and they haven't provided what I asked them for...

I continue to boycott First.

Firstbus Aberdeen - very poor timetable planning - different bus times published on the firstbus app, bustimes dot org, and the bus shelter displayed timetable all makes planning a journey impossible, perhaps firstbus dont expect customers to plan journeys? Firstbus needs to employ more expertise in scheduling and take lessons from other operators like Flix, Ember etc who appear to be able to run a timetable effectively. I've e mailed firstbus previously to complain but it's just met with indifference, almost apathy. I guess they're still in business as demand is there fir a service, albeit a very poor one which lets the people of Aberdeen down badly.