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Putting on the brakes?


Border policy change may hurt bike rentals
By Diane Lindquist
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
April 29, 2006

TIJUANA – Bike rental operators at the San Ysidro Port of Entry crossing say the U.S. government's policy change aimed at stopping cyclists from cutting to the front of pedestrian lines will put them out of business.


"This is serious. I'll have to close,” said Oscar Pantoja, manager of one of two bike rental businesses operating directly south of the border.
Neither has a formal name, but Pantoja's storefront operation near the duty-free shop has “Rent a Bike” printed in large letters above the metal gate that slides open to let customers in to rent one of about a hundred bikes in his inventory.

In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, bike riders were shifted from the passenger car line to pedestrian lanes and allowed to roll the bikes to the front of the line for processing into the United States.

Beginning Monday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say cyclists will wait their turn in the pedestrian lines.

Entrepreneurs had been renting bikes as a way to circumvent the long waits – sometimes one to two hours or more – in the pedestrian lanes.

“It was an opportunity,” said a man who said he was associated with the second rental operation but declined to give his formal name.

His business is run from a parking lot just south of the border shops. Earlier this week, 17 BMX bikes were leaned up to a white van. The cycles were in various states of disrepair, compared to newer models at Pantoja's storefront.

His enterprise was the first at the border, operating only on the busiest days since the policy change in 2001, he said, but on a more regular basis over the past six months.


“It's been a good business,” he said. “But everybody was taking advantage of the situation.”
Rentals of his bikes range from $5 to as much as $20, depending on the length of the pedestrian line.

Prices painted on the wall of Pantoja's Rent A Bike shop, which he said has been open for five months, advertised rates of $5 weekdays and $7 weekends.

Pantoja said he rents from 100 to 150 bikes per day during the week, mostly to Mexicans, and about 200 per day on Saturdays and Sundays, mostly to U.S. tourists.

All are Bimex bikes, costing about $90 each, that he buys in Mexico City.

“These are good bikes. I check them every day, the brakes, the chains, everything,” Pantoja said.

Few renters actually ride the bikes. They push them along the left side of the pedestrian lanes and then cut in at the head to be processed into the United States. Once through the checkpoint, they exit the building and give the bikes to a worker who loads them into a van and brings them back south of the border.

“Sometimes they steal my bikes or leave them inside the building, and then the officers don't give us the bikes back,” Pantoja said, adding that he loses about 10 bicycles per month.

He's hoping Customs and Border Protection officials are once again only threatening to take away the special bike privileges.

“Three years ago they said something like that. Last time it was only words, but this time maybe it's true,” he said.

Customs and Border Protection will definitely be implementing the policy as of Monday, said spokesman Vince Bond.

“They were taking advantage. It was the theater of the absurd,” he said. “We were getting complaints from pedestrians who felt it's just not fair.

“Now,” he said, “it's first-come and first-served.”

Pantoja plans to wait to see what happens before making any changes in his operation.

“I've been thinking about it. I don't know what I'll do,” he said. “Maybe I'll start another business in this location. This is a good location.”



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Diane Lindquist: (619) 293-1812; diane.lindquist@uniontrib.com