A WTF On The Rainbow Bridge

[bellefior]

Recently, I was with business colleagues near Buffalo, NY.  Since we arrived the day before the actual business part of the trip was to take place, we decided to go over to Niagara Falls, NY to check out the Falls.  All of us had brought passports with us just in case we decided to go over onto the Canadian side.

Comments

[jenufa]

Yeah, that's been there a few years now.

Probably a lot of people just jump the turnstyle. :P

Apparently getting into America is more important than Canada!

[bellefior]

We thought about it, but given we were still in Canada and didn't know what would happen if we did jump them, we figured it was better just to pay the 50 cents and avoid any sort of trouble.

[jenufa]

I've seen kids do it before, I'm not nearly spry enough to do it myself... but they didn't get chased down or anything.

I guess 50cents isn't that big of a deal in the end. :)

I'm pretty sure the money just goes to the upkeep of the bridge, not to the salaries or anything. So yeah, a dollar or two won't make them homicidal.. I think. ;)

[mamierock]

I don't get how this is bad service (even wtf bad service) at all.

[bellefior]

I dunno, most of us thought that having to pay to get back onto the bridge that we needed to walk over to get back into the US was kind of weird. I've never seen anything like that before, and neither had anyone else we were with. We've paid tolls for crossing bridges in cars. We've paid fares if we were traveling by bus or train, but that's the first time any one of us had ever been charged a toll to walk.

[mamierock]

But just because it is the first time you've ever encountered it doesn't mean that it is bad service.

[bellefior]

I guess we'll just have to disagree on this one then. Because everyone we told the story to, after they stopped laughing because they couldn't believe it, agreed it was the most ridiculous thing they had ever heard of to charge pedestrians to walk back over the bridge, which is the only way you get back into the US. If there is any place else that does something like this to pedestrians, I would love to hear about it. All of us are pretty well travelled, so this was a first for us.

[c_yo_yus]

Yes, I also don't understand what, if any, part of this was bad service. A hole in Homeland Security? Perhaps.

[bellefior]

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one then. Because everyone we told the story to, after they stopped laughing because they couldn't believe it, agreed it was the most ridiculous thing they had ever heard of to charge pedestrians to walk back over the bridge, which is the only way you get back into the US. If there is any place else that does something like this to pedestrians, I would love to hear about it. All of us are pretty well travelled, so this was a first for us.

PS. No holes in Homeland Security, because once you cross back to the US side, the only way you are getting back into the US is through the customs booth and speaking to a customs officer. To get out onto the bridge going over to Canada is fairly easy, you just exit through a sideways revolving door with a a grill that you can't go back through that takes you onto the bridge. It's getting into either country once you get there that's a little more involved!

[cassandraterra]

Do you have to pay a toll to get back into the US from the Mexico border? Just wondering. It's really odd. It's really ridiculous to have to PAY to walk back into your own country. The fact that NO ONE was there to oversee this, is even more ridiculous. If you had to pay to get on the bridge to go to Canada, I'd be more understanding.

[bellefior]

Thank you. The fact that it only went in one direction which was what we found really strange. Might have found it less odd if it went both ways.

[jfpbookworm]

Actually, it makes sense for it to be only once. Virtually every pedestrian using the bridge is going to cross in both directions, so why inconvenience them twice?

[thewingsofisis]

The last time I walked across the border between the US and Mexico, there was no fee either way.

[lutraphile]

Seems like "slightly WTF policy probably instituted in response to troublemakers". I have to say I'd be thrown for a loop by the discrepancy (no fee going the other direction)-- especially if there's no signage to indicate such.

also I was all sad at first when I read your title... I thought someone's pet had died :P