Affiliate Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to Busbud, which means I may earn a small commission if you book through them. That said, as you’ll see in the article, I usually book directly with the bus or train operator.

After living seven years without a car in the U.S. and doing a lot of traveling, I’ve discovered that there are more options for buses and trains than you’d expect.

But I don’t like to spend hours searching every bus company possible and toggling between several websites to choose my route.

I like using Busbud as a comparison tool. It’s like SkyScanner or Kayak, but for buses and trains, not flights. It lets you see options for all bus and train companies for trips from one city to another.

I almost always check it while planning trips. Often it’s helpful, sometimes it’s not.

So in this article, I want to walk through how I use Busbud, how I don’t, what it’s good at, and what it’s not. I’ll talk about why I usually book direct, and when it makes sense to book through Busbud.

Like a lot of travel tools, it has its use cases.

TL;DR: My Busbud Review

Here’s the quick version after years of using Busbud:

• Best use case: Comparing bus and train options quickly on routes with lots of choices (like NYC ↔ Philadelphia).
• Great for international travel where it exists: I’ve used it in Spain, where there are many different bus and train options.
• I usually use it as a search tool: Most of the time, I compare options on Busbud and then book directly with the operator.
• Busbud has a platform fee. Usually it’s a fee books, and often you don’t get much extra from it.
• The “Refund for Any Reason” option has caveats: You may get Busbud credits instead of cash, depending on the ticket type.
• It makes sense to book on Busbud if the refund policy is better than that of the bus or train company. And the platform fee is worth it for that coverage. Otherwise, I just buy it directly.

What Busbud Is (And What It Isn’t)

Busbud doesn’t run any buses. They’re a comparison tool and marketplace.

Instead of going to the website of every bus company individually, you can search your route once and see options from multiple operators in one place.

One search can show you Amtrak trains, Greyhound and Flix buses, and regional bus options all at once. Internationally, you can compare all kinds of bus and train companies.

Busbud doesn’t actually run any buses or trains. They’re not a transportation company. They’re simply a search and booking platform that connects you with operators. Again, like Skyscanner, Kayak, Momondo, or whatever flight search tool you use.

It’s not exclusive to the U.S. either.

In Spain, it’s thorough. In other countries like France or the U.K,, at least in my searches, I’ve found it has some, but it doesn’t have all the options. That defeats the point of it.

But as a frequent visitor to Spain, it’s nice to see the options and prices all in one place instead of trying to figure out every operator yourself.

How I Actually Use Busbud

I’ve found several helpful use cases.

1) Comparing Multiple Transport Options on Popular Routes

I live in New York. I have a few friends who live in Philadelphia.

I will almost always check BusBud before I book my train or bus.

Amtrak is the first choice, but the prices are high unless you go at an early hour or book well in advance. With BusBud, I can compare an Amtrak price and timing to a Peter Pan, Greyhound, Flix, or other bus right there in one place.

One search shows me the different options side by side, including:

• ticket price
• travel time
• departure times

This is How I’ve Discovered More Options

This is also how I discovered that there are more bus options than I originally realized. When you only look at one operator at a time, you miss a lot of routes.

Instead of checking each website individually, I usually start on Busbud. Even if I know all the operators, I don’t have to visit two or more websites to see all the options.

Another good example was a recent trip I took to Syracuse.

When I searched New York City → Syracuse, Busbud showed me several possibilities:

• Trailways buses
• Greyhound/Flix routes
• Amtrak trains

Seeing everything together made it easy to decide what made the most sense for that trip. Instead of jumping between the Amtrak site and different bus company websites, I could quickly get a sense of the landscape and then choose the option I liked best.

I could also see that Amtrak was slower and more expensive. I chose the Trailways bus.

2) Early-Stage Planning for Routes I Don’t Know

Another way I use Busbud is very early in the planning process, especially when I’m traveling somewhere unfamiliar.

For example, when I was figuring out how to get from Barcelona to Andorra, I already knew there wasn’t a train. But I suspected there were probably multiple bus companies making the trip.

When I searched the route on Busbud, it confirmed exactly that: there were several buses leaving from different parts of Barcelona at different times throughout the day.

I didn’t actually book through Busbud in that case because I was still months out from the trip. But it was useful to confirm that the route existed and that I’d have plenty of options when the time came.

I’ve also used it this way in the U.S. Once, I had an event in Sacramento. Months before the trip, I l looked at transportation options and searched around on Busbud while planning.

That research ended up helping me figure out a cheaper route entirely. Instead of flying directly to Sacramento, I booked a cheaper flight to San Francisco and then took the Amtrak Capitol Corridor train to Sacramento.

That combination saved me a few hundred dollars.

Busbud didn’t show me the entire itinerary perfectly, but it helped me understand the transportation options in the region, which is often the hardest part when you’re planning a trip somewhere new.

Better Than Google Maps for Regional Travel

Google and Google Maps are great for local transit travel. They’re effective at telling me the local buses and when they come. They’re bad at regional travel. BusBud is better.

3) Getting Busbud Credit For Non-Refundable Trips

This gets into the weeds of their “Refund for Any Reason” claim. Busbud advertises this on their website, and most people don’t read the fine print that, depending on the operator’s policy, your refund could come in the form of Busbud travel credit valid for two years.

Then they get angry about it and leave bad reviews. Is it misleading? Kinda. That’s why I’m telling you.

How Their Refunds Work

With Busbud, you can cancel your trip up to 15 minutes before departure.

If your trip was refundable based on the rules of the bus/train company, you get your money back. (But if that’s the case, what are you paying Busbud a fee for? Nothing in my opinion.)

If the ticket you bought is non-refundable, the refund comes back as Busbud credits, not cash. Those credits can be used on future trips and are valid for two years.

So on the one hand, you don’t really get a refund. But on the other hand, there are real instances where you at least get credit when you otherwise would have had to eat the cost.

I Compare Final Prices and Decide if The Platform Fee is Worth the Option to Get Credit

However, the key is to check the cost on the bus company’s website. Sometimes, the price that Busbud shows is higher before the platform fee. Sometimes it’s not. It depends on the company.

If I want to lock in a price, but I know there’s a chance I won’t go, I decide if the platform fee is worth it. I travel a lot, so I know I’ll use the travel credit. For you, it might not make sense.

What Busbud Isn’t Good At

Some of these limitations are pretty normal for aggregator platforms, but they’re worth knowing before you rely on it.

1) It Doesn’t Have Some of the Flexible Search Features

So Busbud is basically the SkyScanner of buses. Except it’s not as good at that. It doesn’t have some of the flexible search tools that flight platforms have developed over the years.

For example, tools like Skyscanner or Kiwi let you search things like:

• flexible travel dates
• entire months of prices
• nearby departure cities
• price calendars

Those features are key for finding cheap flights. Yes, buses often have fixed prices. But whether it’s Amtrak or high-speed rail in Spain, more train and bus companies are adopting similar pricing models as the airlines.

Busbud’s search is simple. You usually have to search a specific route on a specific day, and then manually check other dates if you want to compare.

It works fine for straightforward searches, but it doesn’t yet have the kind of advanced trip-planning features that exist in the flight world.

2) It Doesn’t Combine Different Transport Modes

Some of the more sophisticated flight search engines will suggest creative itineraries. For example, it can show you how to book separate tickets on different airlines to save money.

Busbud does something similar within bus networks. It will combine routes from different bus companies into one itinerary. You can transfer from one Greyhound or Flix to another

But it’s not as clever when it comes to mixing buses and trains together.

For example, I once looked into getting from Columbus to New York City without flying. One logical route would’ve been to take a bus to Cleveland, then the comfortable Amtrak Lake Shore Limited to NYC.

Yes, it would have been longer, but a significantly more comfortable itinerary for someone who didn’t want to fly than a very long Greyhound or Flix ride.

Busbud isn’t able to show that as an option.

Instead, you’ll usually see bus-only options or train-only options, rather than a smart combination of both.

For most travelers, this probably isn’t a big deal. But if you’re trying to build creative car-free routes, you’ll often need to piece together the itinerary yourself.

This is one area where I’d love to see Busbud improve. If it eventually became something like Skyscanner + Google Flights + Kiwi for bus and train travel, it could become an incredibly powerful tool for people traveling without a car.

3) Prices Often Reflect the “Refundable” Option

Just like I recommend people use flight search engines to find deals but often book directly with the airline, I tend to follow the same approach with bus travel.

Aggregators take a small cut of the booking. You’ll see that in the “platform fee.”

I mentioned when this is worth it. But sometimes, the price they show to begin is what you’d pay for a refundable ticket if you book directly with the bus/train company.

For example, with Amtrak, the price they show is the refundable “flex fare” option.

Given this, I can’t think of a reason to book Amtrak through Busbud unless you have Busbud credits.

When I Book Through Busbud (Not Often)

I’ll be repeating myself a bit in this section, but just to be clear, I usually use Busbud as a search tool, then I go book directly on the operator’s website.

There are a few circumstances when it makes more sense to book through Busbud.

When the Non-Refundable Price Is the Same (or Nearly the Same)

Sometimes the ticket price on Busbud is identical, or very close, to what you see on the operator’s website for a non-refundable ticket.

When that happens, I’ll sometimes book through Busbud if the refund or flexibility options give me an advantage.

The key thing is to compare the total cost, including any upsells or add-ons.

If a ticket costs the same but Busbud gives me a cancellation option that the operator doesn’t offer, that can make the platform worth using.

That said, it depends heavily on the operator.

If I’m more likely to cancel, I’m more likely to book a “non-refundable” ticket on Busbud, eat the platform fee, and get credit back if I cancel.

But again, this only makes sense after you compare the price of a flexible ticket directly.

When Paying in a Different Currency Helps

This isn’t something I personally deal with often, but it could matter for some travelers.

Busbud lets you pay in different currencies, which can be useful if you’re booking international bus or train tickets and don’t have a credit card that waives foreign transaction fees.

Even then, compare the final price and check the real-time currency conversion.

Currency conversions and booking fees can sometimes cancel out the benefit.

When I Have Busbud Credits to Use

This one is simple.

If I have Busbud credits sitting in my account from a previous refund, I’ll obviously use them.

Most of the Time, I Still Book Direct

So while there are situations where I’ll book through Busbud, they’re the exception rather than the rule.

Most of the time, I use it to figure out the best route, the best operator, and the best departure time, and then I go book directly with the bus or train company.

Busbud is great for finding the options.

But when it comes to actually buying the ticket, booking direct is often the simplest move.

Is Busbud Legit?

Yes. Busbud is a real and legit company. But they’re just a marketplace and search platform.

So when you book through Busbud, you’re still riding with the bus operator.

Don’t be mad at Busbud if your Greyhound bus toilet is out of service. (If you do ride Greyhound, read my tips to prepare for it.)

I Wouldn’t Have Too Much Confidence in Their Customer Service

Finally, there’s the question of customer service.

I personally haven’t had to deal with Busbud’s customer support. I hope I don’t ever have to. But after years of budget travel, I go into these situations with low expectations. Most travel companies offering “low-cost” anything don’t have good customer service. That’s why they have low costs. Don’t go shopping at Aldi if you want them to smile at you the way they do at Trader Joe’s. (I hope that analogy lands.)

I’m sure whatever customer service complaints people are lodging have merit.

So yeah, Busbud is real and it works. But this isn’t Emerites First Class.

Check out Busbud here.

Guides for The Bus Rides Themselves

All right, if you need help for your actual bus rides, I’ve got you covered. I’ve lived without a car for a long time, and I hope to inspire others to as well.

First all of, let’s be clear that Flix and Greyhound are now the same company, and they’re both mid at best. For me, they’re last-resort options. You can check out how to make do on the Greyhound here, and my review of U.S. Flix Bus. If you’re in Europe, Flix is totally fine and normal.

If you’re in the U.S. Northeast, my general recommendation is Peter Pan, and you can read what to know about them here.

Stick around for more on budget travel, sustainability, and car-free life.

FAQ: Busbud Review

Is Busbud safe?

Yes, Busbud is safe to use. The platform processes bookings securely and issues legitimate tickets for the bus or train operator you’re traveling with.

Just remember that when you book through Busbud, your actual trip will still be operated by the transportation company itself.

Does Busbud charge extra fees?

Yes. Busbud typically charges a platform fee, which you’ll see clearly displayed when you book a ticket under “platform fees.”

That fee is the difference in cost between Busbud and the operator itself. But sometimes you should check the price of a refundable vs non-refundable fare of th operator’s site too.

Can you get a refund on Busbud?

You can cancel your trip up to 15 minutes before departure.

However, depending on the operator’s refund rules, your refund may come back as Busbud travel credit rather than cash. Those credits are valid for two years.

If the ticket is already refundable according to the operator’s policy, the refund can go back to your original payment method.

Is Busbud cheaper than Greyhound?

Usually, no.

In most cases, the ticket price on Busbud is the same as booking directly with Greyhound, plus the platform fee.

However, there are situations where booking through Busbud can make sense, especially if you want to add refund protection.

For example, if a ticket with Greyhound would normally be non-refundable, using Busbud’s refund would allow you to cancel and receive travel credit instead of losing the ticket entirely.

So while Busbud isn’t cheaper, it can sometimes offer more flexibility depending on your situation.

Is Busbud better than Omio?

Omio and Busbud each have their strengths. Omio has two key advantages. First, it shows you flights as well. Second, it covers all of Western Europe.

For those two use cases, you’ll want to use Omio. For U.S travel where you know you’re not going to fly, I like to use Busbud. I think the user experience is simpler.

You can check out my full review of Omio here.