SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — With never-ending long traffic lines at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, engineers in Tijuana are suggesting more mass transportation options be offered to commuters as a way to get them north of the border faster.
Right now, on average, it takes 2 – 4 hours to cross the border in a car.
The San Ysidro Port of Entry is the busiest in the Western Hemisphere where about 15 million cars cross the border each year, according to traffic engineer Alejandro Mungaray Moctezuma who spoke to Tijuana’s El Sol Newspaper earlier this week.
He says traffic patterns and practices have remained relatively the same since 1960 and that it’s time to get people to consider ride-sharing opportunities at the crossing.
“We could all cross the border faster if we used different schemes, buses do cross the border, but service should be expanded.”
According to Mungaray Moctezuma, studies show most people cross the border alone in their cars creating massive gridlock and air pollution near the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
Holly Norgues, who was on her way to Tijuana to take her dog Cortez to the vet, said mass-transportation options should be available.
“If it’s to be more convenient, I would say yeah, it makes more sense,” she said.
Norgues lives in Las Vegas, but is familiar with the area around San Ysidro Port of Entry.
She parked her car on a lot just north of the border and was walking the rest of the way into Mexico.
She said if there was a faster way to get back to California, like a shuttle or bus, she would take it.
“I don’t come as often as some, but I have plenty of friends and family and other people I know, I think there’s more than enough people that regularly make that commute, I think this would make it more convenient and easier for them.”
Engineers like Mungaray Moctezuma said having mass transportation options to get people across the border would be a great benefit to the region.
“It should be this way, most people should be crossing in buses or shuttles diminishing congestion around the crossings.”
The engineer is participating in a gathering of civil engineers this week at Tijuana’s Technology Institute.
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