Vehicle crossings at Detroit/Windsor area ports of entry are down slightly this year, but it’s taking drivers – especially commercial truck drivers – considerably longer to get to the other side. Local residents and shipping companies are unhappy with the situation, which is blamed on a combination of inadequate staffing on the Canadian side and time-consuming security procedures in the U.S.

Wait Times are frustrating Canadians who have to Commute

Canadians who commute to the U.S. for work are particularly frustrated by the higher average waiting times, and also by the fact that there doesn’t seem to be any way to predict when congestion will occur. Morning and evening rush hours and weekends are especially bad, they say, but delays of over an hour can occur even at off-peak times.

Some have even bought or rented houses in the U.S. to avoid the hassle of daily crossings.

Commuters place the blame squarely on customs formalities, noting that it would otherwise take only a minute to drive across the Ambassador Bridge. As it is, they have to wait in line a lot longer than that, and they report that they often find only 3 of the 23 Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) inspection booths open once they get to the head of the queue.

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Their assessment is shared by the Canadian Transit Company, part owner of the Ambassador Bridge, and by Detroit–Windsor Tunnel LLC, which owns the eponymous tunnel.

The Canadian Transit Company recently sent a letter to Steven Blaney, the minister of Public Safety Canada, to complain that the CBSA doesn’t open enough of its inspection booths during rush hours and other high-traffic times. Stan Korosec, the company’s director of security and government relations, says he can’t recall a time when all the available booths were open. He believes this is because the agency doesn’t have enough Border Services Officers to man them, and is hoping that Public Safety Canada will be able to do something about the problem.

Detroit–Windsor Tunnel LLC head Neal Belitsky says that delays in the tunnel are largely due to customs procedures as well; the tunnel itself has plenty of capacity, he feels. He does give border agencies credit for eliminating the multi-hour waits of several years ago, and thinks that travelers should help out as much as possible by familiarizing themselves with border-crossing procedures and making sure to have all required documents ready when they get to the inspection booth.

While those traveling for personal reasons obviously dislike the inconvenience of long and unpredictable waits, trucking companies stand to lose money and customers because of them. Onfreight Logistics president Steve Ondejko points out that he can plan around rush hours and holidays, but unexpected delays mean extra costs for fuel and driver wages, as well as customers who aren’t happy when their shipments are late. Like Belitsky, Ondejko feels that things have gotten better in the last few years, and he mentions pre-screening of commercial vehicles as one bright spot. That program allows trucks to obtain customs clearance before they cross the border, which means they don’t have to wait unless there’s congestion on the road.

Unfortunately, that seems to have been the case fairly often this year: waiting times for commercial trucks at the Ambassador Bridge have doubled since last August.

Without action from Minister Blaney, the trend seems likely to continue. Inquiries to the CBSA on the subject have resulted in a basically boilerplate response blaming the delays on everything from exchange rates to the weather, as well as advice to check border wait times on its website and Twitter feed and use an alternate crossing in the event of congestion.

According to Korosec, that’s not much of a solution: he says that Detroit/Windsor is hardly the only area experiencing delays – it’s a systemic issue affecting land ports of entry all along the border.

To see Canada to U.S. border wait times click here