Nexus or Next-to-last

Last Friday, I wanted to get to work early in the morning.  I just missed the 6:10 am Tunnel Bus because I wanted to stop at one of Windsor’s Tim Hortons for tea and a bagel.  So, I decided to drive and run some errands after work.  One would think that crossing the border just after 6 am would be easy.  Well, think again!

Upon entering the Tunnel, I realized it was backed up about 3/4ths of the way.  It was going to be a long commute.  But I had my tea and thought I would arrive at work by 6:30.  That would be sufficient to get the work done that I need to do.  After 20 minutes, I reached the Custom plaza on the US side. 

About 4 1/2 years ago, I completed the Nexus applicaiton, paid the $50 and had fingerprints taken.  All for a faster entry into either the US or Canada as a low risk traveler.  For the most part, it is generally much quicker to enter the US with Nexus rather than the general lanes.

Last Friday was terrible and I hope that the Department of Homeland Security takes note of the problems.  After my 20 minutes in the Tunnel, there were 4 cars in front of me waiting to clear customs.  I figured it would be a matter of minutes.  Boy, was I wrong and really wrong!  It took about 5 minutes for the first two cars.  After which the officer dropped the gate and it was time for a shift change.  Generally, that is a minute or so delay.  Unfortunately for me, the two officers decided to have a 10 minute conversation.  Really, it’s the morning rush hour and we’re in the Nexus lane — a 10 minute conversation?  Come on.

But wait, there’s more.  The final car in front of me goes to the booth.  5 minutes with the officer and then the gate comes down again!  It was after 5 minutes that I shut the car off.  It didn’t matter that it was in the low 20’s outside, I was very hot.  If I didn’t have work that needed to be completed right when I arrived, I would have called US Customs.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, the Nexus program is for: “These cross-border trusted travel programs facilitate land border crossing of prescreened low-risk travelers and commercial truck drivers through exclusive dedicated lanes. Members in these voluntary programs must meet certain eligibility requirements and pay a 5-year membership fee.”

Let’s look at a few important key words: trusted, facilitate, prescreened and dedicated lanes.  Why is it that the general lanes were proceeding at a speed of 4 cars cleared to 1 Nexus car?

I think I’ll call Nexus, Next-to-last to cross!

This entry was posted on 8. December 2008 at 19:08 and is filed under Nexus, US Customs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.