EmailKid

I'm with you on the price.

I've visited San Diego a couple to few times a year for a long time, but don't rent a car (one of very few cities in US).

So even more of no brainer: hop on the rail to San Ysidro and don't pay to park @:-)

Haven't actually pulled the trigger, but I have found some excellent prices to Guadelajara that I've wanted to visit for a long time as well as (a few years back) great deals to northern South America.

No wonder there were reports of parking lot being full. Would not have expected that many, but I guess investors did their homework before shelling out their hard earned pennies.

DeweyCheathem

What has made CBX popular are the cratered Peso resulting in extremely low airfares out of TIJ to much of Latin America (and especially to destinations in Mexico), as well as the still prevalent belief that the San Ysidro border crossing has massive waits. But since the opening of the new West Pedestrian crossing into the U.S., the pedestrian lines back into the U.S. have become much more manageable. OTOH, the pedestrian crossing INTO Mexico at San Ysidro has become noticeably worse, as the Mexicans have begun to slow down processing, apparently to protest the various Trump Wall messages coming from Washington. But there's a workaround to that, which is to get an FMM180 in advance of the trip, the possession of which will allow you fast access into Mexico along with Mexican nationals. While not officially so, the FMM180 is actually treated as a re-usable multiple use tourism card for frequent crossers by the Mexican border patrol in San Ysidro, and they won't make you surrender it before leaving MX, so you can use it again and again crossing back into Mexico. I bought mine about 4 weeks ago and have used it multiple times, including for my TJ to SJD trip this week.

The FMM180 can be gotten in person at the San Ysidro crossing or online, as well as at CBX. I don't know if they make you surrender the FMM180 coming back into the U.S. via CBX. They certainly do not when crossing back into the U.S. via San Ysidro

EmailKid

Thanks, some VERY useful info in you post ^ @:-)

Like your handle BTW. CarTalk fan maybe?

DeweyCheathem

Yes, both a lawyer with a specialization in financial filings such as IPOs and a huge fan of Click and Clack.

EmailKid

You don't list your location in your profile, but you do know what the first question for you would be if you said you're from DC, right @:-)

Sheer luck, but I actually met them in Miami Beach many years ago

Great guys, both smoking cigars.

DeweyCheathem

No, I'm in San Diego nowadays. Which is why I'm well attuned to the bargains available flying to Latin American destinations out of Tijuana.

I paid under $150 for my round trip ticket to Cabo last week on Volaris. Out of San Diego, it would have cost over $300 on Alaska, or over $250 out of LAX on AA. I have another ticket in April back to Cabo that cost me under $115. Tickets from TJ to either Mazatlan or Puerto Vallarta would be similar in cost to those Cabo tickets.

Sadly, the added costs of using CBX would substantially reduce those savings - but going through San Ysidro and skipping CBX avoids those added costs, albeit at some loss of convenience.

stvr

Like others have posted in this thread, the total all-in price of CBX + transportation made me balk. I crossed at PedWest from TIJ for $4 Mexican Uber plus $13 UberPool to San Diego Airport. CBX would have been $16 plus a $35 Uber (not Pool) from Otay Mesa. Now if I had been in a group, it would maybe be a different story. The thing that really got me was that Hertz was only wiling to price a round-trip rental car from CBX. They wouldn't price a car that started in CBX and ended elsewhere. Now, how many people are starting and ending a rental car trip at CBX? Get real, Hertz.

Bob'sYourUncle

Uhm, the many many Mexican tourists visiting & spending their money in the US?

diver858

Any updates in regard to timing? Trying CBX for the first time in mid-May, flying Volaris TIJ-LAP, for a long leisure weekend. Departs just after noon on a Thursday, returning just before 5 pm on the following Sunday. We plan to drive, park at the CBX facility.

Lufthomie

I can attest to this. This is all true. I lived 7 years on the border in Douglas AZ. Not once was I ever asked for ID crossing into Mexico. We would dine in Mexico at least two times a week. Last year while visiting a friend in S.D. we went to get some smokes for a friend at the duty free. Our plan was just to buy the smokes at the UETA cross over, get some tacos and walk back. My passport was expired so I didn't bring it.

All foreigners were made to fill out a tourist form. Since I didnt have a passport i was separated from my party and taken to a locked room with other Americans.
I found it rather comical. I even met some people from the city in L.A. I grew up in and we had a discussion on who had the best pastrami in town. What happens is they fill the room up then come in a scold everyone for not having proper travel documentation. One husband and wife team were arguing with the officer. when he came to me I only spoke english ( played a dumb hass) and he just said get a passport and let me leave. it was about a half hour process.

When we walked back across, I just showed U.S. Customs my D/L and the officer just waved me through.
I have my passport and border crossing card now so I dont have to go through that again.

tmiw

It's been a requirement to have at least a passport card (or enhanced driver's license) for land crossings for at least a decade. I'm surprised you didn't get hassled going back into the US along with whatever you went through in Mexico.

Lufthomie

When I lived in Douglas we went back n forth all the time. I last lived there 4 years ago. One thing an agent told me was even if I dont have an ID as long as I declare I am a U.S. citizen, they must let me in. I'm sure vetting takes place in those cases. I also do have an enhanced D/L as AZ's standard license will not be valid for domestic travel in 2020.

SanDiego1K

I bought our tickets for the bridge at the time I bought our tickets. I've printed out our boarding passes. Is the bridge ticket embedded in them? I have no separate documentation. There's nothing on the boarding card that shows it includes the bridge.

JDiver

From what I’ve read, those should be separate tickets. I’m wondering if the kiosks will reprint your tickets, or if they’re somehow available online? I’d hate to be charged twice. The CBX website shows:

diver858

We flew Volaris back to TIJ in early January 2019, paid for CBX as part of the airfare. CBX agent was able to scan the Volaris boarding pass, provide CBX pass. It adds some complexity, so a separate CBX document would be easier, but apparently not required.