Just want to share my TRAUMATISING experience with them!!!
I should have done it earlier as it was way back in March 08 but now that I%26#39;m going to Taiwan again, I feel this must be made known to all travellers.
I know Freego may be cheap and has loads of history when they were on time for all the trips they made. I have posted my experience in some forums but people was telling me it was an unfortunate experience. Yes, it may be but the attitude and the way they operate their business is simply not a matter of ';oh u are unlucky';. Every incident could have been avoided if they were more responsible.
I know Freego is a cheap option for transport but I would seriously advise you to consider again especially you want to use them from hotel to airport.
I would recommend you to use Freego from airport to hotel but not vice versa.
Look, I%26#39;m not trying to tarnish Freego%26#39;s reputation but I%26#39;m just relating my personal experience.
I asked Tashun hotel to book for me Freego and my flight was at 6pm so she recommended me to take the 2.50pm bus and mentioned that it will only take about 45 mins. So I was supposed to be back at the hotel by 2.40pm as the bus don%26#39;t wait for people.
Bus arrived at 2.50pm sharp and it started picking up passengers (TS seem to be the 1st stop) and before I know it, it actually went round and round XMD for 1 whole hour!!!
There were people who were late but the bus driver went round and round and finally pick up the passengers. To be honest, they are really irresponsible. They caused the entire bus people to be late for their flight!!!
The bus actually pick up more passengers that it can fit and there were at least 8 passengers standing and the bus was filled with luggages!!!
and finally it drop us at another stop to change to the big bus. That was the frustration part. There were so many people with so many luggages PLUS another bus came with fully loaded with passengers and luggages as well. So everyone frantically ';run'; to the big bus and stuff their luggage into the big bus (there was only 1 big bus there). And then this lady keep saying ';must change ticket. please change ticket'; and finally a man say ';no need change first. Get on the bus first.'; And then when I finally went up, the bus was full and I thought it was ok to stand but apparently they do not allow that so the bus driver got us out of the bus and our luggages out of the bus, and kept assuring us that the other big bus is at the back. True enough, another big bus came and mind you, the time was 4.15pm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We quickly load the luggages up and finally we went up the bus with the same scenerio again. There was a big group of youngsters about 7 of them but only 5 or 6 seats were left. Finally the driver allow 1 of them to ';share'; seat with his partner
I was really getting worried so my hubby ask the driver ';can make it or not? my flight at 6pm'; and the driver looked at his watch and ';can can....sure can one';
Here comes the 6th best part. The lady who were previously shouting ';must change ticket'; came up the bus and insist everyone to change ticket. Basically it just taking out the ticket the hotel had issued us and changed to her bus ticket. So it was just a paper exchange!!! why is this SO important?
Now here%26#39;s the 5th best part. The driver started counting how many passengers in his bus. was that necessary?????
and the 4th best part? He actually still bother to switch on the 4 TV in the bus!!! Why the hell do I need to watch the TV when I%26#39;m already late for my flight!!! My hubby was so mad that he shouted at the driver ';Uncle, can you please start driving. we are very late already!';
And on the way to the airport, there were several traffic jam and by then both me and my hubby were already thinking that we WILL miss the flight.
now comes the 3rd best part. The bus were having people flying off from terminal 1 and terminal 2 so he took those terminal 1 people to their terminal first. And let me tell you my watch was showing 5.10pm!!!! and he loaded off the luggages and since a lot of people went off at terminal 1, I actually have to get my hubby to stand at the luggage there to make sure they don%26#39;t take our luggages by mistake.
2nd best part? The bus actually still go to pick up passengers from the terminal 1 arrival hall!!! Can you imagine how hot my blood was boiling??!!!???
And the NUMBER#1 best part. The bus drop us at the terminal 2 arrival hall (the place where you guys took the bus when you arrive at Taipei airport!!!) and I ask him ';why aren%26#39;t you taking us to the departure hall!!!'; and he pointed at the door and still got the cheek to say ';that%26#39;s the departure hall what. Just walk in and you will see';
And my watch was showing 5.15ishpm. I ran up the escalator 2 floors to the departure airline counter. and the lady was like ';you are lucky. 4 more mins and you won%26#39;t be able to board the flight';
Ladies and Gentlemen, I%26#39;ve been taking planes for the past 10 years. Flew mainly to Asia and Australia and recently to US (I took coaches/bus in US too). I%26#39;ve never missed a flight before and have never met such irresponsible bus company. I don%26#39;t know about Europe as I%26#39;ve never been there but heard how about their punctuality. But I really really really think that Freego is the MOST irresponsible bus company I have ever come across!!!!
I was not the only one who was late for my flight. There were a couple with a baby and a single man. Can you imagine if in the midst of rushing, the mother fall down or trip or whatever? both the mother and the baby would get hurt! Freego show no remorse at all and no apologies at all for all this!!!
I%26#39;m not making this up. My flight was on the 21st March 2008 SQ879 6pm flight. If there is anyone who went on the same Freego bus as me, please do speak out.
Please, spend a bit more money and take the cab when you going to the airport. If coming from the airport, it%26#39;s ok. I mean I don%26#39;t care if the bus took 3 hrs to reach my hotel. But if you are catching a flight, don%26#39;t take bus!!!
If you really have to take one, please arrange an earlier bus. To be honest, I don%26#39;t know if this is Tashun fault. But I can%26#39;t be bothered now.
I just want to let everyone in this forum know about this so that you are aware there are such incidents and you should be careful.
Freego Bus-An ';Unfortunate experience';Hmmm......... I am going to Taipei soon. I think I had better take a cab to Taipei MRT Station and take Guo Guang Bus service to the Airport.
Freego Bus-An ';Unfortunate experience';Freego is a company with bad records,
taipeitimes.com/News/鈥?003338496
hi thanks for sharing. I chged my mind abt taking the freego tpt aft reading wat happen. I have 2 kids and 2 old folks with me.. cant imagine hoe to run if we are late for the flight. They are indeed very irressponsible.
While I empathise with the OP%26#39;s situation , I would like to point out that the Freego is a public transport and is responsible ONLY for bringing one from point A to B. It does seem strange that the shuttle went in a merry go round for 1 hr , which likely, is not the norm.
The counting of head is to ensure that the fare collected match the number of passengers, n is pretty standard procedure as with other private run bus company (at least on the few that I%26#39;ve travelled with).
I am sorry to hear about this... Although my whole experience was okay last year except that on the way to hotel, it had a mass traffic jam and I was a bit frustrated, the bus came to pick us at 3pm and we successfully waited our flight in time.
I can empathise with you, Chokolo, but my experience which was similar though not quite as bad as yours was in Sydney! Like you, we opted for one of these pick-up services. The pick-up time suggested by the hotel seemed reasonable to us but the bus also went round to many places in the Sydney CBD area before heading to the airport. By the time we arrived, the check-in lines were chockful of people checking in for later flights and we were stuck behind them. We only made our flight because some kind airline staff noticed our plight and moved us to the front of the queue. Lesson learnt - don%26#39;t rely on pick-up services to get to the airport, in whichever country!
Hi, sounds terrible, think I can only take freego from the airport to hotel and not return to airport. Any other bus back to airport?
Yes, you can take a short cab ride to Taipei Station Guoguang (Kuokuang) Bus Terminal-West (located across from Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Dept. Store) and take the Guoguang Bus to the airport. Departs every 15 min.; no need for reservations. (As there are two Guoguang Bus Terminals next to each other, one is known as ';East'; and the other ';West';.)
www.kingbus.com.tw/down2.php?li_code=1A010252
Does anyone knows whether there is attached toilet inside the bus?
No comments:
Post a Comment