Avoid these weekends if driving Vancouver to Seattle

[Tweedy]

Early June and if you're a weekday its probably not going to be too bad, an hour or so wait at the border throughout the day. Double that + if its a weekend.

 

Today is Good Friday. I was watching the news at 6:30am there were already 90 minute waits at both the Peace Arch and truck crossing. It is now 7:45am and the news said 2 hour waits at both. Aldergrove is not open for another 15 minutes and there is already a one hour wait. This just gives you an idea of what stat holidays are like. People think they're getting to the border early and beating the crowds at 6am but they're not, dozens of others had the same idea! And the cars just keep coming.

 

Last night (Thursday) I drove within a mile to the border at 8pm. I saw the sign that gives the border waits and it was 40 minutes at both crossings.

 

 

I was just coming to post something similar. The 2 hours waits on a weekend isn't out of the norm. However, at 8am it is.

[avcruz]

• National had an agency right at the pier in the past
  
• Dollar/Thrifty are about 4 blocks away; Seymour @ W.Hastings approx
  
• Hertz show on their website an office (pickup) at Canada Place, but their office is actually 1200 block of Granville (which is 3/4 of the way to the Granville St Bridge)
  
• Budget are in the 400 block of W.Georgia (about 8 blocks away)
  
• Alamo show a Canada Place office, but I suspect the cars are out of their Sandman Hotel (300 block of W.Georgia) location
  

 

Check with Hertz, as a few years ago you could take a cab from the pier to the office and they would reimburse you, I think it was up to $15. Plus they permit one way rentals between Vancouver & Seattle.

[flyingandcruising]

What are the wait times like with the nexus on the long weekend. We have a cruise out of Seattle during the LNG weekend of aug 2nd, was thinking of flying into yvr and driving down.

 

Thanks

[zephyr17]

What are the wait times like with the nexus on the long weekend. We have a cruise out of Seattle during the LNG weekend of aug 2nd, was thinking of flying into yvr and driving down.

 

Thanks

Nexus will be backed up on long weekends, too, since a lot of folks around here have Nexus cards now. Shouldn't be as bad as the regular lines, though.

 

Nexus is available at both the Peach Arch and Truck (Pacific Highway) crossings as well as Abbotsford/Sumas. It isn't at the Aldergrove crossing.

[Appygirl]

What are the wait times like with the nexus on the long weekend. We have a cruise out of Seattle during the LNG weekend of aug 2nd, was thinking of flying into yvr and driving down.

 

Thanks

 

Last weekend when the borders were backed up and the news helicopter flying over, when the regular line up was 2 hours, the news reported the Nexus line up was one hour wait. That can fluctuate depending on how long the line up is. For example last weekend, especially Friday and Saturday, the line up was between one and two miles backed up going to the border all day long. The Nexus line peels off around half mile or so before the border. So if the line up is longer than a half mile people with Nexus still have to crawl along in the line up with everyone else for however long until they reach the Nexus lane. Whatever the line up is, the Nexus lane exit is about the one hour mark for the rest of the cars, so just look at Nexus as cutting about one hour off the wait time.