
Tijuana Airport Parking, Just Over the Border - nikunjk
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/20/business/international/tijuana-airport-parking-just-over-the-border.html?_r=0#!
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jpatokal
The Swiss-French airports mentioned in the article are Basel-Mulhouse and
Geneva:

[http://www.euroairport.com/en/](http://www.euroairport.com/en/)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EuroAirport_Basel%E2%80%93Mulh...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EuroAirport_Basel%E2%80%93Mulhouse%E2%80%93Freiburg)

[http://www.gva.ch/en/desktopdefault.aspx](http://www.gva.ch/en/desktopdefault.aspx)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_International_Airport](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_International_Airport)

Unlike the Tijuana project, which is an airport in Mexico with a bridge to the
US, in both BSL and GVA you could use either the French or Swiss side of the
airport without crossing over to the other side. (Both are now in the Schengen
zone, meaning French visas are valid in Switzerland and vice versa, so the
distinction is no longer necessary.)

~~~
rmc
In the Schengen Zone, you can just drive across the border, there might be a
flag at the border to tell you when you've crossed (or more importantly) a
sign telling you the new road traffic laws.

And of course citizens of both countries can live and work in each other for
as long as they like. Can't see the USA & Mexico doing that.

~~~
VLM
"And of course citizens of both countries can live and work in each other for
as long as they like. Can't see the USA & Mexico doing that."

We already do that, although its only one direction and technically not legal.
Its actually pretty hard for a US dude to work illegally in .mx, like if you
wanted to be a web dev in Mex City. Don't confuse a militarized photo op area
thats about 500 feet wide with the rest of the thousands of miles of border.

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jasonkester
I guess it's cool that San Diego will get another accessible airport out of
the deal, but it seems like this will otherwise just kill off another _good
thing_.

I bet that guy saving $1,000 on his flights doesn't mind the hour of extra
work it takes him to do so, and that the people taking advantage of this
little arbitrage are all fine with it too. But it's plain to see that on Day
One of the new bridge thing, airfares will adjust so that now it costs exactly
$12-$19 less to fly out of Tijuana vs San Diego (adjusted based on whatever
silly fee they put in place to walk across that bridge). No more $1,000
savings. No particular reason to use this airport in favor of the old one if
it worked for you.

It reminds me a bit of the big push in the late 70's to put as many Diesel
cars on the road as possible because "Look at how cheap Diesel is!!! It's like
_half the price_ of Regular!!!". Which was indeed the case, until four days
after all those diesels hit the road.

~~~
carlob
Diesel is still cheaper both absolutely and by distance driven in most
European countries even if the penetration of Diesel vehicles is much higher
than in the US.

~~~
monkeynotes
Diesel in the UK and France, in my own experience, is more expensive per litre
than petrol. Diesel is more expensive partly because all the tight regulations
on emissions, low sulfur and all nonsense.

~~~
jtheory
I've been living in France (and driving a diesel Peugeot 206) since 2006;
diesel (gazole) is always cheaper than standard petrol (and that's part of why
I bought this car). See: [http://www.prix-
carburants.gouv.fr/](http://www.prix-carburants.gouv.fr/)

You do seem to be correct about the UK, though -- diesel is a bit more
expensive than basic unleaded petrol.

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te_chris
Having just spent a couple of weeks in Mexico the amount of paranoia and
ignorance that their northern border mates tend to exhibit towards them is
just completely ridiculous.

~~~
thangalin
The wall between the United States and Mexico is a make-work project that will
be dismantled in two hundred years once humanity grows out of its
nationalistic tendencies.

The North American countries should loosen borders, not tighten them, paving
an open road to unification. Building a border barrier feels like erecting
another Berlin Wall.

Last I checked, we all live on the same planet, and are all tied to its fate
for the foreseeable future.

~~~
CreakyParrot
1\. Not defending the concept or execution of that wall, but the list of
reasons behind its existence includes many more things than just nationalistic
tendencies. If and when it's dismantled, it'll say far more about the relative
functioning of the two nations' respective institutions and economies than it
will about any decrease in nationalistic tendencies.

The original signatories to the Schengen Agreement were some of the most
nationalistic countries on the planet, and still are, 29 years later.

2\. It only feels like the Berlin Wall if you ignore the fact that the Berlin
Wall was built to prevent emigration and defection.

3\. You and I live on the same planet; mind if I enter and leave your home
without restriction? Mind if everyone else is free to, also?

I agree with what you're saying in principal, but the application of ideals is
where things become far more complex.

Also, it's worth reflecting on the fact that the federal republic of the
United States has totally open borders between its 50 states, which is too
often taken for granted, and basically provided the model the EU is struggling
to imitate.

~~~
_delirium
Schengen doesn't only include rich Western European countries, though, but
quite a bit of economic differences. Bulgaria and Romania are both poorer than
Mexico, and yet there's no wall keeping them out of Germany or Scandinavia.
Poland was also quite poor when it joined, though it's now slightly wealthier
than Mexico.

~~~
carlob
This is only true for tourism, not true for the job market inside the EU.

If you are a French national and want to come work in Italy: no problem, you
are treated exactly like an Italian (except for maybe a couple of national
security jobs). If you are Romanian you still have to get a work permit.

~~~
sdoering
Work permit for Romanians: Not anymore since 01.01.2014. Since Romania joined
the EU in 2007, its citizens had to wait till this year to be allowed to
freely work everywhere in the EU.

This led to a lot of polemic and propaganda here in Germany, especially from
the right-wing.

~~~
_delirium
Yeah, there's a giant table here:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_movement_for_worker...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_movement_for_workers#Transitional_provisions_in_new_member_states)

After a country joins the EU, its citizens gain full freedom of movement after
7 years maximum. Countries can impose a 2-year transitional period, followed
by a 3-year extension, and another 2-year extension, with escalating
requirements for what claims need to be made to justify an extension.

For example here in Denmark there was only a 2-year transitional period, so
Romanians and Bulgarians are free to work here without a permit since
1/1/2009\. But a few EU countries, such as Germany and the UK, exercised an
extraordinary right to delay implementation for a full 7 years, by asserting
"serious labor-market disruption". Italy was in between, applying the 2+3 but
not the full 2+3+2 transitional period, so Romanians/Bulgarians may work there
without a permit since 1/1/2012\. Since 1/1/2014 all transitional periods for
Romania and Bulgaria have expired (a transitional period for Croatia is still
in effect in some countries).

However I was imprecise on the terminology: Romania and Bulgaria are actually
_not_ in Schengen yet, so EU states may impose border checks. What they are
part of is the free-movement-of-labor zone, which is not quite identical to
Schengen.

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x0054
As a side note, if you live in San Diego, and like traveling to Mexico, get a
Sentri Card. [1] It's worth it. With it you can drive from San Diego to TJ and
back in 40 minutes. The wait at the border is cut from 3 hours to 5-10
minutes. Me and my wife got the cards so we can go to doctors and mechanics in
TJ and to watch movies. Cinepolis tickets in TJ are $7, vs $20 in US :) Just a
quick tip.

[1]
[http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/trusted_traveler/sentri/se...](http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/trusted_traveler/sentri/sentri.xml)

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gregalbritton
I just flew out of Tijuana Airport from San Diego. Took public transport with
no problems at all.

We'll see what the project brings to the surrounding area, I hope it's a
positive benefit for everyone.

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aluhut
So how does this annoying paywall work? I clicked the link 5 times. At the 6th
time it showed me the full article without the url-tail. Can someone confirm
that?

~~~
ot
Also, if you google the title and click on the nytimes links from there, there
is no paywall. It has always worked for me.

Probably they look at the referrer, but I don't know why they do it.

