Went early 5/4/02, arriving about 8:30 AM. Parked at the lot just north of the freeway entrance, across the street from Burger King.

Cost: $7.00 max.

Burger King bano was available for relief after the long drive - no charge. There was a sign in the parking lot that advertised buses to downtown (i.e. the Zona), but the attendant advised me to go farther down the street. I got on a minivan/bus marked "Jitney" but found it was not going downtown. The bus I wanted boards just outside the exit of the pedestrian return to USA. There was a 10-15 minute wait while the bus filled up. Then the bus makes its way to the border crossing, where it has a special lane on the far right. A Mexican Federale-type boards and visually inspects the passengers, assumedly for contraband or rowdies. Then it's just a few minutes into the bus terminal stop which they say is at Revolucion and Primero (1st), but is actually on Juarez. If you walk up the hill a bit to the light, then turn right in the direction of the "St. Louis Arch" structure, you will get to Revolucion; continue another block to Constitucion. Make a right down the little hill and you are in Monger Central. (I advise against a first-timer using this route at night.) The great advantages are: 1-No need to walk across the bridge to enter Mexico; 2-Avoidance of that STINK you get right after passing the metal gates; 3-No need to haggle with the cabbie barkers at the taxi stand.

Cost: $1.50

Unfortunately, my time limitation did not allow for waiting for the bars to open at 11:00; however, there was an ample selection of street girls available by 9:00. I was given a tour by the "Bakery Girls" lady. I looked for Araceli in the alley (near the Ninos Heroes end) and was told she was not there, and also that there are TWO Aracelis: long hair and short hair. I had never seen her so didn't know which was which. Eventually I went with the very pretty Maribel, but she didn't accept my offer of "Sexo primero, despues el dinero" and we parted. After several walking circuits I gave up looking for Araceli and finally went up with a girl whose name I don't recall. I relented by paying up front and got just what I expected (a very basic session with little to no enthusiasm).

Costs: $0.75 x 2 bottled water
$20.00 for girl
$5.00 room (20 minutes)

Back to the bus station only to see a bus just leaving. The next one would not arrive for 1/2 hour and the ticket guy said the time to cross after reaching the border could be 1-1/2 hours!

Yellow taxi to border: $5.00

I always ask to be let out on the east side of the bridge (pharmacy zone) so as to avoid having to walk over from the taxi stands. Now about 11:00 AM, pedestrian lines were already quite long and buses were lined up about 4-5 deep. Salvation came in the form of bicycle rentals. You can ride them almost right to the front of the inspection point (walk the bike once inside the building). Then you take turns between bicycles and bus passengers.

Cost: $5.00

The inspectors were examining IDs but not scanning or entering numbers. Then you walk the bikes up to the parking lot for return. The freeway onramp is like 20 feet from the parking lot driveway. Sweet!

I figure the combination of the parking, bus and bike rental strategies easily saved me 2 hours.

Tioboni

I crossed at about the same time as you, but on foot. Even though the line started behind the crosswalk it moved suprisingly quickly. My estimate is that bike riders only saved about ten minutes.

Cuba,

Within the last two weeks or so I have found that the ped line has been moving very well. Usually 20 to 30 minutes vs. 1 to 1.5 hours. Don't know what to attribute this to tho!

Harry

For those who return using the bus, do you have to stay on the bus? Or if there are many buses stacked up in line, can you hop off and take a bike?

No problem hopping off the bus (as long as it isn't moving).

Another good idea is to walk to the bus at the very front of the bus line at the border and ask the driver if you can buy a $1.50 bus ride across the border from there. No reason to be on the last bus in line when you can board the first bus in line.