U.S. Customs and Border ProtectionOffice of Field Operations

Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI)Wait Time / Primary Process Baseline Studies

The Wait Time/Primary Processing studies are intended to provide a baseline against which the WHTI implementation can be measured. Computer modeling, using Border Wizard, shows that processing times, and wait times, will be greatly reduced as the use of RFID-enabled documents increases. CBP is working to ensure the greatest possible RFID saturation, which will realize the greatest benefits, through the use of a variety of RFID-enabled documents, including:

Passport Cards Enhanced Drivers Licenses

Trusted Traveler Program cards Border Crossing Cards

U.S. Customs and Border ProtectionOffice of Field Operations

Detroit POV Primary Process March 2007

Nogales POV Primary Process July 2007

Blaine POV Primary Process July 2007

San Ysidro POV Primary Process & Wait Time December 2007

Buffalo POV Primary Process & Wait Time December 2007

Buffalo Commercial Wait Time January 2008

El Paso POV Primary Process & Wait Time January 2008

El Paso Commercial Wait Time January 2008

San Luis POV Primary Process & Wait Time February 2008

Laredo POV Primary Process & Wait Time March 2008

Laredo Commercial Wait Time March 2008

Hidalgo/Pharr POV Primary Process & Wait Time March 2008

Calexico East/West POV Primary Process & Wait Time April 2008

Calexico Commercial Wait Time April 2008

Champlain POV Primary Process & Wait Time May 2008

Completed Studies

U.S. Customs and Border ProtectionOffice of Field Operations

Sample Summary of WHTI POV and Wait Time Baseline Study:

Port of San Ysidro, CA

U.S. Customs and Border ProtectionOffice of Field Operations

Measurement and Reporting of Wait Times

Recommendations of the CBP Interim Report

1. Use Closed-Circuit Television Cameras to Measure Wait Times

2. Provide a Standardized Measurement and Validation Tool

3. Provide Administrative Support to Ensure Accurate Wait Time Reporting and Reduce CBP Officer Workload

4. Increase the Timeliness and Frequency of Wait Times to the CBP Web Site

5. Provide Video Feeds of port traffic to the CBP Web Site

U.S. Customs and Border ProtectionOffice of Field Operations

Counting Vehicles / Counting People

The method used by CBP to count passenger vehicles and people arriving at the land border will be standardized and improved when a new Vehicle Primary application is installed at all land border ports of entry.

Effective January 2009 vehicles and people will be tracked using the new Vehicle Primary application

99% accurate (the 1% error rate allows for uncorrected system or human errors, which should occur infrequently because of the design of the new application)

U.S. Customs and Border ProtectionOffice of Field Operations

U.S. Customs and Border Protection regularly shares border crossing and other statistical data with various agencies, including:

Department of Commerce

Department of Transportation

State and Local Municipalities

Other Foreign Governments

Cooperative Efforts And Information Sharing

U.S. Customs and Border ProtectionOffice of Field Operations

CBP encourages cooperative efforts at all levels of the agency:

At the national level, CBP works with other agencies in groups like the Transportation Border Work Group on issues like border wait times.

At the local level, CBP encourages ports and field Offices to work in partnership with other organizations, both government and private sector. An example of cooperative effort is the shared border wait time reporting at the Port of Buffalo.

U.S. Customs and Border ProtectionOffice of Field Operations

CBP will continue its efforts to work cooperatively and, wherever possible, to share data with other agencies, governments and private groups.

Sources Of CBP Public Data.

HTTP://CBP.GOV/XP/CGOV/TRAVEL/WAIT_TIMES/

HTTP://CBP.GOV