Office of Operations Freight Management and Operations
Table of Contents

Measuring Border Delay and Crossing Times at the US–Mexico Border
Final Report
Automated Crossing and Wait Time Measurement

CHAPTER 7: PHARR-REYNOSA WAIT TIME DATA ANALYSIS

Data Collection and Analysis Period

Pharr has two RFID reader stations in Mexico (R1 and R2) and two RFID reader stations in the United States (R3 and R4) to collect commercial vehicle travel times for segments of the trip. Tag reads have been recorded since October 2009 from three of the four stations, and the fourth station at CBP that enabled wait time measurement has been recoding tag reads since March 25, 2011. Pharr wait time analysis will be presented in two sections: (1) unmatched tag reads with analysis, and (2) matched tag reads with analysis. Graphs for data collected by each reader location are portrayed as being on the Mexico side or US side. Like BOTA, some tags were not readable for various reasons, which resulted in a smaller number of unmatched tag readings for either side of the border compared to the total volume of truck crossings for the same period reported by government border crossing operators.

Matched tag reads for the system at Pharr are the total number of tag IDs that were detected at US reader stations after having been previously detected at Mexico reader stations within a certain buffer period. This period, which was generally set at 120 minutes, is adjustable. The buffer period is necessary to exclude records not showing regular behaviors.

Events both external and internal to the system occurred during this about two and half year period that affected the tag reads. The analysis includes an explanation of what root causes were known to have brought about an anomaly, or if not conclusively proven, speculation as to the root cause.

Unmatched Tag Reads

A central database server housed at El Paso office receives transponder (tag) identification data from the field RFID readers. One key objective in analyzing the daily transponder count is to understand the trend of commercial vehicle traffic flow during normal times, planned, and unplanned events that might impact the demand at the port of entry. Another key objective is to keep a log of when hardware failure occurred, for how long, and why. A series of graphs has been developed that are based on the daily count of transponders, read per calendar month by RFID readers on CBP primary inspection facility. These graphs are shown by figure 53 and figure 54.

Figure 53. Chart. Daily transponder reads by reader at CBP at Pharr-Reynosa in 2011. This graph shows the daily transponder reads for the radio frequency identification (RFID) reader station at Customs and Border Protection from March 24, 2011, through December 29, 2011. The reads generally decrease in October 2011 (high points of about 3,000 decrease to high points of about 2,000).
Figure 53. Chart. Daily transponder reads by reader at CBP at Pharr-Reynosa in 2011.
Figure 54. Chart. Daily transponder reads by reader at CBP at Pharr-Reynosa in 2012. This graph shows the daily transponder reads for the radio frequency identification (RFID) reader station at Customs and Border Protection from January 1, 2012, through April 1, 2012. Generally, the reads increase slightly over the time period (a high point of about 1600 to a high point of about 2,000).
Figure 54. Chart. Daily transponder reads by reader at CBP at Pharr-Reynosa in 2012.

Matched Tag Reads

Monthly Performance of Border Crossing

Table 9 shows the monthly average US-bound truck crossing time with various indices at the Pharr-Reynosa POE. The highly variable crossing times seen on this project were due to factors such as the reality that some trucks go through secondary inspection, some are part of the expedited FAST program, and some have trailers that are empty; those have very different crossing times from trucks not in those categories. When the mean crossing time was calculated, it did not distinguish among the crossing times of these trucks; all crossing times are used in calculating the mean. This results in a very high standard deviation and thus high co-efficient of variation.

Table 9. Monthly performance of Pharr-Reynosa based on average crossing times of trucks.
Month-Year Average Crossing Time (Minutes)
(1)
 95th Percentile Crossing Time (Minutes)
(2)
 95th - Average
(3) = (2)-(1)
 Buffer Index (%)
(4)=(3)/(1)
 Median Crossing Time (Minutes)
(5)
 Sample Size
(6)
October-09 43.9 95.0 51.0 116.2% 37.9 14811
November-09 52.2 106.8 54.6 104.6% 45.7 11383
December-09 50.7 103.5 52.8 104.2% 44.3 4974
January-10 51.3 106.6 55.3 107.9% 44.3 3040
February-10 57.4 105.9 48.5 84.5% 54.9 3677
March-10 54.6 109.1 54.5 99.7% 48.4 5728
April-10 48.8 102.9 54.1 110.7% 41.9 5003
May-10 51.5 103.9 52.3 101.5% 45.7 5565
June-10 51.0 106.1 55.2 108.2% 44.3 3198
July-10 61.2 112.4 51.3 83.8% 57.5 3878
August-10 59.2 111.3 52.1 88.0% 55.2 6233
September-10 57.0 110.2 53.2 93.2% 51.1 9669
October-10 46.25 99.0 52.8 114.1% 39.0 13845
November-10 55.48 108.0 52.5 94.7% 50.0 12344
December-10 48.68 103.0 54.3 111.6% 41.0 14196
January-11 57.18 107.0 49.8 87.1% 55 10957
February-11 66.10 113.0 46.9 71.0% 65 8765
March-11 73.06 115.0 41.9 57.4% 76 5945
April-11 64.61 113.0 48.4 74.9% 64 5103
May-11 63.17 112.0 48.8 77.3% 61 8347
June-11 59.91 108.0 48.1 80.3% 56 10950
July-11 51.31 105.0 53.7 104.6% 45 15895
August-11 53.64 105.0 51.4 95.7% 50 9250
September-11 55.06 99.0 43.9 79.8% 48 13059
October-11 55.10 125.00 69.9 126.9% 45 11629
November-11 63.60 127.00 63.4 99.7% 57 6610
December-11 56.48 121.00 64.5 114.2% 48 7767
January-12 67.20 134.00 66.8 99.4% 60.0 6815
February-12 66.23 132.00 65.8 99.3% 60.0 5620
March-12 71.40 135.10 63.7 89.2% 69.0 6719

In figure 55, the information in table 9 is graphed. The vertical axis on the left represents crossing time in minutes and the axis on the right represents the buffer index (as a percent). Also included in the chart are the 95th percentile crossing time, average crossing time, total US-bound truck volume, and RFID sample size.

Figure 55. Chart. Monthly performance of Pharr-Reynosa based on average crossing times of trucks. This graph shows the monthly performance (October 2009 through March 2012) for Pharr-Reynosa for the average crossing time, 95th percentile crossing time, total northbound truck volume, median crossing time, sample size, and buffer index. It is a graph of the information in table 9. The vertical axis on the left represents crossing time in minutes, and the axis on the right represents the buffer index (as a percent). The average crossing time is between about 44 and 71 minutes, with the highest points in March 2011 and March 2012. The 95th percentile crossing time is between 95 and 135 minutes, with the highest points in January, February, and March 2012. The total northbound truck volume is around 40,000. The median crossing time is between 38 and 76 minutes, with the highest points at March 2011 and March 2012. The sample size is about 15,000 in October 2009, decreases to about 3,000 in January 2010, increases to about 14,000 in October 2010, decreases to about 5,000 in April 2011, increases to about 16,000 in July 2011, and decreases to about 7,000 in March 2012. The buffer index varies widely, between 57 percent and 127 percent.
Figure 55. Chart. Monthly performance of Pharr-Reynosa based on average crossing times of trucks.

Histogram of Wait Times of Trucks

Figure 56 is a histogram of raw wait times over a 29-day period (February 2012). It shows that the 95th percentile of trucks requires approximately 110 minutes or less to wait at the border, and the 50th percentile of trucks requires approximately 45 minutes or less to wait at the border. It should be noted that this histogram is based on the wait time records with less than 120 threshold minutes to exclude outliers such as from the secondary inspection or mismatched RFID tags due to the random reader errors.

Figure 56. Chart. Histogram of raw truck wait Times for a month of February, 2012 in Pharr-Reynosa. This graph shows truck wait times for frequency and cumulative percentage for one month (February 2012): 95 percent of trucks require about 110 minutes or less to wait at the border, and 50 percent of trucks require about 45 minutes or less to wait at the border.
Figure 56. Chart. Histogram of raw truck wait Times for a month of February, 2012 in Pharr-Reynosa.

From the figure 56 histogram of raw truck wait time for the month of February 2012, a histogram for a single weekday (February 15, 2012) was prepared, which is shown in figure 57. It shows that the 95th percentile of trucks takes approximately 90 minutes or less to wait at the border, and the 50th percentile of trucks requires approximately 37 minutes or less to wait at the border.

Figure 57. Chart. Histogram of raw truck wait times for a weekday at Pharr-Reynosa. This graph shows truck wait times for frequency and cumulative percentage for one day (February 15, 2012): 95 percent of trucks require about 90 minutes or less to wait at the border, and 50 percent of trucks require about 37 minutes or less to wait at the border.
Figure 57. Chart. Histogram of raw truck wait times for a weekday at Pharr-Reynosa.

Hourly and Daily Variation of Average Wait Times of Trucks

Figure 58 is a snapshot of hourly and daily variation of average wait times of US-bound commercial vehicles at Pharr for Monday through Saturday, the week of February 13, 2012. The Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge commercial crossing operates from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM Monday through Friday and from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday. These graphs show that average wait times are lower on Monday and Wednesdays. Wait times on Thursday and Friday are higher. Friday peak wait times occur during the early afternoon hours. Since the graphs only captures one week of February, the patterns could be different on the other weeks or months and need to be analyzed further for any possible seasonal or month-to-month trends.

Figure 58. Charts. Hourly and daily variation of average wait times of trucks during the week of February 13, 2012 at Pharr-Reynosa. These six graphs show hourly and daily variation of average wait times of US-bound commercial vehicles at Pharr-Reynosa for Monday through Saturday, the week of February 13, 2012. These graphs show that average wait times are lower on Monday and Wednesdays, while wait times are higher on Thursday and Friday. Friday peak wait times occur during the early afternoon hours. (currently on Monday)
Figure 58. Charts. Hourly and daily variation of average wait times of trucks during the week of February 13, 2012 at Pharr-Reynosa. These six graphs show hourly and daily variation of average wait times of US-bound commercial vehicles at Pharr-Reynosa for Monday through Saturday, the week of February 13, 2012. These graphs show that average wait times are lower on Monday and Wednesdays, while wait times are higher on Thursday and Friday. Friday peak wait times occur during the early afternoon hours. (currently on Tuesday)
Figure 58. Charts. Hourly and daily variation of average wait times of trucks during the week of February 13, 2012 at Pharr-Reynosa. These six graphs show hourly and daily variation of average wait times of US-bound commercial vehicles at Pharr-Reynosa for Monday through Saturday, the week of February 13, 2012. These graphs show that average wait times are lower on Monday and Wednesdays, while wait times are higher on Thursday and Friday. Friday peak wait times occur during the early afternoon hours. (currently on Wednesday)
Figure 58. Charts. Hourly and daily variation of average wait times of trucks during the week of February 13, 2012 at Pharr-Reynosa. These six graphs show hourly and daily variation of average wait times of US-bound commercial vehicles at Pharr-Reynosa for Monday through Saturday, the week of February 13, 2012. These graphs show that average wait times are lower on Monday and Wednesdays, while wait times are higher on Thursday and Friday. Friday peak wait times occur during the early afternoon hours. (currently on Thursday)
Figure 58. Charts. Hourly and daily variation of average wait times of trucks during the week of February 13, 2012 at Pharr-Reynosa. These six graphs show hourly and daily variation of average wait times of US-bound commercial vehicles at Pharr-Reynosa for Monday through Saturday, the week of February 13, 2012. These graphs show that average wait times are lower on Monday and Wednesdays, while wait times are higher on Thursday and Friday. Friday peak wait times occur during the early afternoon hours. (currently on Friday)
Figure 58. Charts. Hourly and daily variation of average wait times of trucks during the week of February 13, 2012 at Pharr-Reynosa. These six graphs show hourly and daily variation of average wait times of US-bound commercial vehicles at Pharr-Reynosa for Monday through Saturday, the week of February 13, 2012. These graphs show that average wait times are lower on Monday and Wednesdays, while wait times are higher on Thursday and Friday. Friday peak wait times occur during the early afternoon hours. (currently on Saturday)
Figure 58. Charts. Hourly and daily variation of average wait times of trucks during the week of February 13, 2012 at Pharr-Reynosa.

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