TOPIC: SoCal to Tijuana Logistics

Hey there, I hope this is the right place for this. I am getting ready to schedule Ellanse at AD in TJ for next month. However, I am trying to figure out the logistics to get there. I reside in SoCal near Anaheim and you would think being in SoCal would make it a breeze. But I can not figure out an easy cost effective way to get to TJ (Grand). Ideally, if there was a train or bus route from Anaheim that would be great. But, I can not find anything that does not require multiple transfers. I would be open to driving down to SD or the boarder and crossing on foot going and using AD shuttle service to return if I knew of a safe place to park for a couple of days. Flying into SD airport from Orange County/LAX is definitely cost prohibitive. The best idea I have come up with (which isn't the most cost effective), is driving to SD airport, park in the LT parking and take the AD shuttle both ways. Any other suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

If you're comfortable driving into Tijuana and know how to get around, that is likely the cheapest scenario. It's not dangerous per-se, it's just that not a single sign is in English and you'll have to be adept with using GPS & reading Spanish on the fly. Also, traffic can be aggressive at certain times of the day. This is why I personally prefer taxi or shuttle.

Alternatively, find the cheapest garage NEAR the border crossing, Uber or Lyft to the Pedestrian Entry, then follow the foot traffic & signs to the taxi's once you've gone through. Carry cash, typically a ride to the Grand Hotel is like $10 (but carry like $40 in increments of 1's or 5's), depending on who you ask and how you haggle. I haven't been there in a while so I can't say whether or not prices have gone up, especially in light of the recent gas costs. You'll also be able to pay roughly the same rate back to the pedestrian crossing back into the U.S.

The cheapest method may also be the "longest" method, if you don't mind long lines.

If I were to go today, I'd probably cross through the Pedestrian Entry, take a taxi, and pay for the shuttle back when I was ready to leave. The shuttle gets to use a special line because it is a medical transport, and you are in-fact a patient. This saves time, but isn't cheap.

This is great information SO. I really appreciate you shedding light on the subject and pointing out my different option.

I'm from OC so I would drive to the airport in San Diego and park and use the AD shuttle service. It's $160 for round trip.
I know the $160 seems kinda high for such a short distance but heres the thing: the shuttle service makes it so you avoid waiting in line at the border to come back to San Diego.

How do they do this? Funny. They have a time that they will pick you up and they also have a second car that times the wait beforehand so that the first car drops you off near the border and you walk a couple of minutes to get into the second car which is about 5 minutes wait to cross.

With the AD shuttle, you save about 3 hours coming back versus driving yourself and having to get Mexico auto insurance, pay for parking and not having to know how to drive in Mexico or where you are going.

I walked through the San Ysidro border pedestrian entry, there was hardly any line on a Friday 10am. In my experience I wasn’t driving so I got dropped off to the closest entry past Hungry Jacks, via Lyft. I brought my online-paid FMM (immigration form) which wasn’t necessary as you can pay by card on the spot. The walk going in and walk heading out of customs was a lot longer that customs/immigration itself (2-4mins).

I just want to add that I find there’s weak mobile signal at the border and Tijuana in general for my US number.

The first guy who offered me taxi wanted US$18, I probably should have haggled

Btw I decided crossing the border by foot since flying into SD is cheaper than enter TJ by plane