BajaNomad

Otay pedestrian crossing

bajamigo - 5-4-2011 at 07:30 AM

The sidewalk bordering the SENTRI lane ends at the pedestrian gate, which is just a few yards from CPB kiosk. Depending on the relative speed of the vehicular and pedestrian traffic, you should be able to keep an eye on your friend right up to the crossing.

Legal?

mcfez - 5-4-2011 at 07:47 AM

......"first sentri crossing at otay and will need to drop off someone to walk across

Is this allowed to do? I am not trying to stir the pot here!

latina - 5-4-2011 at 07:58 AM

You are right mcfez. You are not allowed to be in the sentri lanes if you have an unauthorized person in the car, even if you plan to drop them off before you reach the border officer. That's what they tell you when you get your card. They have the right to take your privileges away. We got a royal scolding crossing from Canada to the US with our nexus (same as sentri) a few years back when we tried to do the same thing.

bajamigo - 5-4-2011 at 08:09 AM

There's a sharp left turn as you enter the SENTRI area; drop your passenger off before you make the turn. Deno's right, it is "illegal," just like spitting on the sidewalk or jaywalking: don't do it in front of the authorities..

krafty - 5-4-2011 at 08:20 AM

We did this a couple of weeks ago, with a guest sans sentri-we made the turn first-MUCH SAFER-and then let the passenger out to walk. The car got through way quicker than the walker-plan to meet up near the shops on the other side.
CBP realizes that pax have to get out. They will not fine you.SENTRI is the nearest lane to the walking line for a reason.

krafty - 5-4-2011 at 07:49 PM

We also did it around that time-thought it would be quicker as we had to catch a plane, but do not think so. Will stick with SY in future.

Roberto - 5-4-2011 at 09:02 PM

Dropping off passengers is done daily by thousands. CBP has not shown any evidence of caring. At SY, that may be because when you drop off the passengers, you are still in Mexico, where CBP does not have jurisdiction, though that is just speculation.

movinguy - 5-4-2011 at 09:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bajaeng
after doing our first otay crossing, we are asking ourselves "if it is really worth it crossing at otay instead of san ysidro" ... it was like 30+ miles to get there, kind of tricky to find, and then just a single line that was sloooow. felt bad for the regular line. it looked horrendously long. all of this was at around 930am today


Otay SENTRI notoriously slow . . . pedestrian SENTRI is the way to go if you can make it work.

mrfatboy - 5-6-2011 at 05:53 AM

My buddy uses the SY sentri line all the time and drops people off at the last possible moment for ped crossing. He never had a problem. I did it once. Easy.

I was thinking about getting my own a sentri pass so my wife and i could use this method when coming back from san felipe. Maybe next year. The return home is such a bummer.

On a side note, any news on the lower sentri prices?