Line ups at border crossings: Longer to much longer from Canada to the US? Opinions? (home) - City-Data Forum

beenhereandthere · 08-25-2010, 07:56 PM

Out here in NW WA/SW BC, I've almost have never heard of backups going from the US to Canada, lasting for more than 75 minutes, average waits are usually 15 to 30 minutes.....
Coming back into the USA, wow, on heavy days, 2 hours or more is not uncommon and over 75 minutes, during the day, is almost the norm.....average waits are 45 minutes to a hour...
I think it's since the US guards are more anal and hardcore than the Canadian ones. Or, maybe the Canadian crossings have more lanes to process travelers than the US does?
Is it like this in say, Detroit-Windsor, Niagara Falls-Niagara Falls?....seemed to me before 9/11, both crossings were about equal in wait times....

mishigas73 · 08-25-2010, 09:54 PM

I think it's a combination of a lot of things...not the least of which is the strong Canadian dollar and the weak US economy. From what I have seen, there are a lot more Canadians coming south to visit than Americans coming north. Also, with the expansion of the border for the Olympics, there has been a noticeable decrease in wait times coming north.

As far as the Americans being more "anal", can't really say that I've seen a huge difference. IMO, it really depends on the day and the particular guard. Coming into Canada several weeks ago, I was behind, literally, 5 cars, and it took 15 minutes. Guess the guard was having some fun with the peeps coming in...

But, after waiting in a 1+ hour line-up coming back to the States on a Sunday night, I decided to come home EARLY Monday morning. At that time, there's one lane open, but a breeze getting through.

Normally, though, when I get up to Canada on Friday evenings (usually around 8 at the border), there's little to no traffic coming south.

ThroatGuzzler · 08-25-2010, 10:13 PM

I've noticed at the Buffalo border that there are about 3 times as much people entering the US than coming out, but that obviously depends on the time of day. You could also look at peace bridge's numbers for example..

July 19/10 statistics:

On the average day there's slightly more automobiles entering the US than Canada. I think most of this accounts to cross-border shopping due to the strong Canadian dollar. But then again the people have to come back don't they? ... Lol. I've gone shopping several times in Buffalo solely to save money off electronics and other stuff which Ontario taxes you hard on.

lucknow · 08-25-2010, 10:47 PM

I cross the border over 100 times a year all along the Canada, US border from New Brunswick to White rock BC. Overall I'm very surprised at the speed of the crossings. Usually 15 minutes or less. It helps having a fast card for sure. I would say that the two worst places are White rock and Niagara falls. I never cross at NF but go to Queenston Lewston instead But far more often go to Ft erie Buffalo. I cross at sweet grass Montana all the time and it's a really fast one. It's funny but the worst one I've had all year was at International Falls Mn. We were the only vechicle there and they were detirmined to find something. WE were there for about an hour while they dug through all our stuff and confiscates our dog food. LOL I had just bought it in Minnisota a few days before. Guess they didn't want it back in the USA or the guard had a pack of hounds.

beenhereandthere · 08-25-2010, 10:56 PM

I have a NEXUS card too, so I don't have to deal with real long line ups, but there have been a couple of times when I waited 15 to 30 minutes, coming back into the US, in the NEXUS lane...go figure.