Do you want to go to Mexico anytime soon? Let ride sharing app Uber take you. Of course, you have to get to San Diego, CA on your own.
Uber is launching Passport. With a push of Uber’s button, they will take you from San Diego, through the San Ysidro border, and to any destination in Mexico’s Baja California. This includes Tijuana, Mexicali, and Ensenada. ?This service will compete with people driving, busing, taking taxis, or even walking across the border. This trip is only one-way and available through Uber’s black option. The Passport service will require a $20 convenience fee. Fares will vary depending on places and mileage lengths. ?A one-way fare from downtown?San Diego to Tijuana’s airport will cost an Uber rider $100. A trip from Pacific Beach to Rosarito will cost $160. You must have your passport to cross the border, Uber or no Uber. Both sides believe Uber Passport will boost tourism for greater San Diego and Baja California, Mexico. Over 70,000 people cross the San Ysidro border daily. Around 50,000 have taken Uber services between San Diego and Mexico, but the trip was far more complicated. The passenger would end one trip at San Ysidro, walk across the border, get their passport stamp, and then hail another Uber after they make it to the Mexican side.
Uber Passport should make it easier than that to cross the border. But it won’t make traffic at the border easier. We can only hope it would make it more comfortable. If this is luxury service, then it better be. I’ve never crossed this border before, but I can see how San Diego citizens cross the border for a weekend out, a day off, or even for work/business purposes. But will this attract people for the price? Should they come up with an Uber Passport service elsewhere, like say, from greater Seattle to greater Vancouver? Will people even prefer Uber,?over a taxi service or their own car across the border?