Bad news for all of you that recross riding a bike. As of this coming Monday, you'll have to go through the walk through line.
See today's , Thursday, Union Tribune for details.

I wanna know how they expect us to take our bikes through those stupid rat mazes...

I'm guessing we have to take the burros back now.

FINALY SOME GOOD NEWS


"SAN YSIDRO – Border officials announced yesterday they will create a bikes-only lane at the San Ysidro port of entry that will continue to allow thousands of bicycle commuters quick entry to the United States."

"The INS said it made the announcement yesterday to "reassure bicycling border crossers that the agency is committed to addressing the bikers' unique needs," and said the agency will create a permanent bike lane."


San Diego Union Tribune:

http://www.uniontrib.com/news/uniontrib/sat/news/news_1n6bikes.html


From what I get from this the bike lane is going to be inside the Point of Entry building. I'm sure that it's not going to be as fast as it was in the bus lane but it won't be two hours either.

-snapper-

Has anyone seen this new lane yet?
Can anyone confirm?

Yes, I use the lane 5 days a week going to work in the wee hours of the mornings (between 5:30 and 6:00). You walk your bike up to the door, sometimes a national-guard soldier takes it from you when you walk thru the metal detector, sometimes you walk thru the metal detector twice, once with, and once without your bike and you procede to the front depending on traffic of people walking in the building how fast it goes. Early in the morning Monday thru Fridays I have only noticed a slowdown of only about 5 minutes in total transit time. I will check it out on Saturday to see just how it works on the weekend to see just how bad the Customs/INS fucked it up for sure.
LLFO
After all don't be afraid of the changes that you hear about, you have to witness the effects to make up your own mind, remember , DON'T BE A FOLLOWER, BE A LEADER.

how bad has it messed up the line for walkers?

The walking line is the same. Saturday will be interesting if the bike rentals are doing big business...
I anticipate some kind of bike registration scheme to keep the rent a bikes out.

What are the chances of being able to rip-off one of those rental bikes? Assuming one cuts off the number plate prior to speeding by the guy collecting them.

Why would you want to? They are pieces of shit. If you want a bike go to a garage sale and get one for 10 bucks, which is about what the rental costs on a weekend anyway.

HJ
they have walkie talkies and call out each bike that is being rented.
they have like a lineup of kids working for them.
it would be pretty hard.
You can always shoot them in the face if they tried to take the bike back

Milky

God damn the prices have gone up considerably for bike rentals. When it was still going through the bus lane, it was about $5-$7 to go. Now, it's up to $10... sometimes $15 (depending on time of day).

What up with that?


Good hunting

Damm , never been taken for that much.
As of last week i have never paid more than 5 fucks.

the linea has been very good as of late so they are doing that too make up for lost sales and not supply and demand.
mexican business is something we will never understand

Take care
Milk

It is taking longer to get through on a bike. Fewer rentals per hour means higher prices to recoup investment in bikes, truck, gas and bribes.

PowerSlave,

For shits and giggles. And yeah it might be a piece of shit to start with, but when I get done tricking it out it's going to be pimp-daddy. Kinda like that bike Pee-Wee Herman rode in his movie. Yeah-boy!!!! And the gun may be hard getting across the metal detector.

Milky,

"...i have never paid more than 5 fucks. "

Hell, at $40 per session X "5 fucks"....that would be $200 for a BIKE rental?? DUDE! You are getting scammed!

ROFLMAO

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.


StrikeEagle

the bike thing is a joke, i rented one for $7, but now on the weekends, sundays, they have the patrons and the bike riders alternate to keep the lines moving, it took me 53 minutes to cross the border, in THE BIKE LANE... what a fucking joke, ..still , the regular line is about a 90-120 minutes wait on sat and sundays..

Sometimes they do that on other days to. I was there on Monday the 30th of December and they were screwing up the bike lane.
At times it looked like the ped line was going faster than the bike lane.

Stupid rent a cops.

CMAC

I had to make an afternoon crossing last November or December on, as I recall, a Saturday or Sunday. That's something I'm usually able to avoid. My experience was similar to CMAC's; both lines were assinine, but the bike line was more time-consuming. I am aware of the idea that, once the bikers finally get into the building, we tend to move faster than the vast hoard of pedestrians. Still, so many pedestrians were being let in, that they were getting across faster.

The pedestrians now have a shade canopy going a long way back; we bicyclists do not.


I got pissed at some guys behind me, who jumped on their bikes and cycled past me, after a bunch of us finally were motioned to the x-ray station. (Why do they only have two machines at this bottleneck?)

I jumped on my bike and careened ahead, cutting back in front of the SOB's. The rent-a-wanna-be-cop (which is what he was - not INS, Customs, etc) sent me to the back of the line. AND refused to do the same, for the bastards who'd started it!

I was not entirely surprised by any of it.

I'd appreciate recommendations on places in or near the Zona Norte to park my bike.

I was parking in the patio of the hotel to the south of CC, Montetitos (sp?). The owner of the hotel seems to have come down against that, according to the manager (or, the manager got pissed, 'cause I showed one of his main girls, Rosa de Gdl, a better hotel, in which to screw!). (That was the Hacienda, now, the upstairs Michoacan, at the SE corner of this intersection; it is perhaps the top choice for SG action for perhaps all of La Zona, unless you want to get a room for the night, and take 'em there).

I usually pay $1 for token security while my bike is locked up. I went to Home Depot and got an enormous American brand lock with a shackle about 5/8" thick, for about $23, and for only a few $, about 2' of extra-strong chain.

Somewhat incidentally, I'm looking for someone else w/ expertise with the web, and with a grudge against the gov't, to help on my web site, that is devoted to getting the crossing time down to 10 minutes on a pretty reliable basis, for all times and days, and all legal modes of crossing.

avisar2004@yahoo.com

It is only going to get worse, if there is a war with Iraq, everything at the border is going to go to shit. You are right about the rent a cops, they are slime.

I've been parking my bike for $1 in the back of the parking lot just north of Hotel Leyva, which is a little north of CC. Being Mexico, I think it is about time that this gets messed with, and I have to go looking gfor another $1 place. Any suggestions? (Oh, and yes, I'm aware that some will flame away, at, "Being Mexico...." Flame away. I'll most likely not change my mind tho - too much experience.