OCEANUS
Nomad
Posts: 139
Registered: 10-11-2008
Location: Dana Point; L.A. Bay
Member Is Offline
|
|
NEW BORDER WAIT APP = Faster Crossing?!!
This article was in yesterday's L.A. Times about a new app that essentially allows you to choose the fastest border crossing BEFORE you ever commit to
those multi-hour waits.
I'm not a smart phone user, but this sounds pretty cool...
SAN YSIDRO — Two eternal truths about crossing the Mexican border: It's worth the drive to Rosarito Beach for Tacos El Yaqui. And coming back is hell.
In the last several years, crossing the border from the Mexican side has become a test of nerves. Two-, three-, even four-hour waits are typical.
As you burn gas, jockey for position in the lanes and swerve to avoid the vendors and begging children who weave on foot between cars, you are
consumed by feelings of helplessness and rage that cannot be assuaged by all the striped blankets, Sponge Bob piñatas and plaster Last Suppers in the
world.
RELATED: Is the border secure?
The lack of American efficiency, even in a time of jacked-up anxiety over illegal immigration and national security, is an embarrassment.
Will Carless, a reporter at Voice of San Diego, should get a medal for his recent trip. After touring the wineries of Baja's Guadalupe Valley last
summer, he arrived at the Tecate crossing about 6 p.m. on a Sunday.
Five hours later, when he was a few cars away from the guard booth, Americans closed the border without warning. He drove 30 minutes west to the Otay
Mesa crossing and waited in line another five hours. The family finally crossed at 4 a.m.
"It ruined the whole trip," Carless told me the other day.
I'm pretty lucky. I only cross a few times a year, usually after visiting our family cabin at Campo Lopez south of Rosarito Beach.
I recently received the border equivalent of a "get out of hell" card. I was approved for a SENTRI pass, which required a federal background check and
a months-long wait for an appointment at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office at the Otay Mesa crossing. With the pass, I can return to the
U.S. in special lanes at comparatively lightning speed. On St. Patrick's Day, while pedestrians and cars in normal lanes waited 2 1/2 hours, I got
across in 22 minutes.
For occasional crossers, Carless said, the waits are an inconvenience. "But for all the people coming across the border to work or see family every
day, it's nothing short of a disgrace."
He's talking about folks like Liza Leyva, 43, who lives in Rosarito Beach, works for a union in Oceanside and crosses every weekday. With her three
school-age children.
She wakes up at 2:30 or 3 a.m. The family leaves home an hour later so Leyva can get to work by 9 a.m. "It's awful," she said. "The border is so
unpredictable. It's out of control."
That's what UC San Diego computer scientist Ganz Chockalingam thought as he wasted two hours of his life at the border in Tijuana a little over two
years ago. He and his neighbor had popped down to Rosarito Beach from Encinitas for what his neighbor promised would be the best tacos of his life —
at Tacos El Yaqui, of course.
The food was delicious; the interminable border wait left a very bad taste.
There ought to be a way to know in advance what the wait times are, Chockalingam thought, so you can decide when and where to cross. Chockalingam,
principal development engineer at UC San Diego's California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, went to work.
Traffic at the border, he discovered, isn't just an annoyance for the more than 60 million people who cross every year. It's a multibillion-dollar
time suck. In 2007, the San Diego Assn. of Governments released a survey claiming that border traffic delays cost the economies of the U.S. and Mexico
more than $7.2 billion and 83,000 jobs annually. Time is money.
Chockalingam collaborated with students and programmers — Gen Liu, Matthew Davis, Tarfah Alrashad, Rodrigo Rallo, Sam Fernald and Mike Chiu — who told
me in their La Jolla lab how they created "Best Time to Cross the Border," a project they believe will do more for their job prospects than any
computer company internship. (Alrashad, from Saudi Arabia, is already working on a similar app for the congested border traffic at the causeway that
connects Bahrain to Saudi Arabia.)
The app, for Android and iPhone, gives three important data points: the official current wait time, as reported by the Customs and Border Protection
agency (which is usually an hour old), the typical wait time and — most exciting for people who have to deal with border traffic insanity — the
current wait time from travelers who are actually crossing.
Who knows what future apps will be driven by this kind of crowd sourcing? DMV wait times. Disneyland wait times. "Users will come up with ways to use
it that we didn't even think of," said Davis, a computer science major.
Today, there are about 20,000 users. And some good feedback: In late February, at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, the app won third place
among 40 universities that had entered the competition.
During my visit to his lab, Chockalingam could see that four people were using the app. One was in Cabo San Lucas, probably trying to time a flight to
Tijuana. (U.S. budget travelers know it's cheaper to drive across the border and fly from Tijuana to Cabo. But then you have to contend with the
border wait coming home.)
Last fall, Apple briefly rejected the app, saying it promoted criminal activity.
"I'm like, 'What the heck?'" Chockalingam said. "Then it occurred to me because our title was 'Best Time to Cross the Border,' they assumed it was for
illegal purposes."
Daily crossers like Leyva say the free app has saved her untold hours. The first thing she does when she wakes up is grab her phone and check the app.
"It tells me if I am going to cross at San Ysidro or Otay Mesa. It has become my everyday tool."
Chockalingam said his neighbor can't believe what a food run to Rosarito Beach launched: "We just went for tacos, and you start something like this?"
As I type these words at 5 p.m. on a recent Monday, the wait at San Ysidro is a soul-killing three hours, 15 minutes, according to the app. It tells
me the typical wait time at this hour on a Monday is one hour, 30 minutes.
If I were stuck at the border right now, I'd probably grab a taco and cross over later.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-abcarian-border-2013...
[Edited on 3-29-2013 by BajaNomad]
|
|
|
willardguy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6451
Registered: 9-19-2009
Member Is Offline
|
|
The app, for Android and iPhone, gives three important data points: the official current wait time, as reported by the Customs and Border Protection
agency (which is usually an hour old), the typical wait time and — most exciting for people who have to deal with border traffic insanity — the
current wait time from travelers who are actually crossing.
I wonder how they get this information from the actual crossers? 
|
|
|
durrelllrobert
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7393
Registered: 11-22-2007
Location: Punta Banda BC
Member Is Offline
Mood: thriving in Baja
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by willardguy
The app, for Android and iPhone, gives three important data points: the official current wait time, as reported by the Customs and Border Protection
agency (which is usually an hour old), the typical wait time and — most exciting for people who have to deal with border traffic insanity — the
current wait time from travelers who are actually crossing.
I wonder how they get this information from the actual crossers?
|
If they have the app and smart phone they call it in using the app?
Bob Durrell
|
|
|
BajaGeoff
Super Nomad
Posts: 1727
Registered: 1-11-2006
Location: San Diego and Campo Lopez
Member Is Offline
Mood: Heading To Baja!!!
|
|
We ran an article about this a few months ago...
http://www.bajabound.com/before/driving/bordercrossingapp.ph...
I use the app and it really is great. After you cross, you can enter your wait time on the app and submit it. They add your data to the "user
reported" wait times. Pretty nifty stuff...
|
|
|
elgatoloco
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4332
Registered: 11-19-2002
Location: Yes
Member Is Offline
|
|
We have used the app both to check the times and report wait times. The first time I tried to use it to report a 3 minute wait in Sentri I was not
able to do so because I was 26 miles from border at home. You have to be in proximity of border to report. The 3:15 Monday wait time mentioned in the
article had to be the day we came back from our recent trip. 
You don't 'call' in the report you use the app to report.
Nice article. 
MAGA
Making Attorneys Get Attorneys
|
|
|
BajaNomad
Super Administrator
Posts: 4999
Registered: 8-1-2002
Location: San Diego, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: INTP-A
|
|
As discussed recently:
http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=65937
http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=64914
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
– Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
We know we must go back if we live, and we don`t know why.
– John Steinbeck, Log from the Sea of Cortez
https://www.regionalinternet.com
Affordable Domain Name Registration/Management & cPanel Web Hosting - since 1999 |
|
|
mrfatboy
Nomad
Posts: 478
Registered: 4-17-2008
Member Is Offline
|
|
I noticed that the app didn't have a pedestrian Sentri category for otay mesa. Only ready lane. I thought otay had a pedestrian sentri lane?
[Edited on 3-29-2013 by mrfatboy]
|
|
|
BornFisher
Super Nomad
Posts: 2108
Registered: 1-11-2005
Location: K-38 Santa Martha/Encinitas
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by mrfatboy
I noticed that the app didn't have a pedestrian Sentri category for otay mesa. Only ready lane. I thought otay had a pedestrian ready lane?
|
Like you said, the app. has the Otay ped Ready Lane. Otay doesn`t have a Sentri pedestrian lane.
|
|
|
mrfatboy
Nomad
Posts: 478
Registered: 4-17-2008
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by BornFisher
| Quote: | Originally posted by mrfatboy
I noticed that the app didn't have a pedestrian Sentri category for otay mesa. Only ready lane. I thought otay had a pedestrian ready lane?
|
Like you said, the app. has the Otay ped Ready Lane. Otay doesn`t have a Sentri pedestrian lane. |
Sorry. My typo. I corrected the original post to say Sentri.
Anyway, I asked about a pedestrian Sentri lane at otay in the below post and otay was confirmed to have one. What's the correct answer?
http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=65167#pid7879...
|
|
|
schwlind
Nomad
Posts: 362
Registered: 8-30-2008
Location: Daytona Beach, FL/San Antonio Del Mar (Colonet)
Member Is Offline
|
|
This is a great app... put it on my iphone... and sent the link to all my Baja friends... They love it too!
Thanks,
Linda
Linda
|
|
|
Gypsy Jan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4275
Registered: 1-27-2004
Member Is Offline
Mood: Depends on which way the wind is blowing
|
|
Smartphone app speeds up border crossings
From The Los Angeles Times
A taco run to Rosarito Beach led a UC San Diego team to create 'Best Time to Cross the Border,' which provides real-time data on the length of the
wait to come into the United States.
By Robin Abcarian
SAN YSIDRO - "Two eternal truths about crossing the Mexican border: It's worth the drive to Rosarito Beach for Tacos El Yaqui. And coming back is
hell.
In the last several years, crossing the border from the Mexican side has become a test of nerves. Two-, three-, even four-hour waits are typical.
The lack of American efficiency, even in a time of jacked-up anxiety over illegal immigration and national security, is an embarrassment.
Will Carless, a reporter at Voice of San Diego, should get a medal for his recent trip. After touring the wineries of Baja's Guadalupe Valley last
summer, he arrived at the Tecate crossing about 6 p.m. on a Sunday.
Five hours later, when he was a few cars away from the guard booth, Americans closed the border without warning. He drove 30 minutes west to the Otay
Mesa crossing and waited in line another five hours. The family finally crossed at 4 a.m.
"It ruined the whole trip," Carless told me the other day.
I'm pretty lucky. I only cross a few times a year, usually after visiting our family cabin at Campo Lopez south of Rosarito Beach.
I recently received the border equivalent of a "get out of hell" card. I was approved for a SENTRI pass, which required a federal background check and
a months-long wait for an appointment at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office at the Otay Mesa crossing. With the pass, I can return to the
U.S. in special lanes at comparatively lightning speed. On St. Patrick's Day, while pedestrians and cars in normal lanes waited 2 1/2 hours, I got
across in 22 minutes.
For occasional crossers, Carless said, the waits are an inconvenience. "But for all the people coming across the border to work or see family every
day, it's nothing short of a disgrace."
He's talking about folks like Liza Leyva, 43, who lives in Rosarito Beach, works for a union in Oceanside and crosses every weekday. With her three
school-age children.
She wakes up at 2:30 or 3 a.m. The family leaves home an hour later so Leyva can get to work by 9 a.m. "It's awful," she said. "The border is so
unpredictable. It's out of control."
That's what UC San Diego computer scientist Ganz Chockalingam thought as he wasted two hours of his life at the border in Tijuana a little over two
years ago. He and his neighbor had popped down to Rosarito Beach from Encinitas for what his neighbor promised would be the best tacos of his life -
at Tacos El Yaqui, of course.
The food was delicious; the interminable border wait left a very bad taste.
There ought to be a way to know in advance what the wait times are, Chockalingam thought, so you can decide when and where to cross. Chockalingam,
principal development engineer at UC San Diego's California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, went to work.
Traffic at the border, he discovered, isn't just an annoyance for the more than 60 million people who cross every year. It's a multibillion-dollar
time suck. In 2007, the San Diego Assn. of Governments released a survey claiming that border traffic delays cost the economies of the U.S. and Mexico
more than $7.2 billion and 83,000 jobs annually. Time is money.
Chockalingam collaborated with students and programmers - Gen Liu, Matthew Davis, Tarfah Alrashad, Rodrigo Rallo, Sam Fernald and Mike Chiu - who told
me in their La Jolla lab how they created "Best Time to Cross the Border," a project they believe will do more for their job prospects than any
computer company internship. (Alrashad, from Saudi Arabia, is already working on a similar app for the congested border traffic at the causeway that
connects Bahrain to Saudi Arabia.)
The app, for Android and iPhone, gives three important data points: the official current wait time, as reported by the Customs and Border Protection
agency (which is usually an hour old), the typical wait time and - most exciting for people who have to deal with border traffic insanity - the
current wait time from travelers who are actually crossing.
Who knows what future apps will be driven by this kind of crowd sourcing? DMV wait times. Disneyland wait times. "Users will come up with ways to use
it that we didn't even think of," said Davis, a computer science major.
Today, there are about 20,000 users. And some good feedback: In late February, at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, the app won third place
among 40 universities that had entered the competition"
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
|
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
