Car trips between Canada and U.S. on the rise

[alp227]

Source: CBC News

An increase in car trips to the U.S. pushed Canadian international travel over the five million mark in April, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

The figure was a four per cent rise from March's level.

The number of trips by Canadian residents to the United States rose 4.2 per cent to 4.3 million trips in April. This was the highest monthly figure since March 1995.

The increase was in large part thanks to car trips to the US, which peaked to 4.2 million. Same-day car travel has been on an upward trend since September 2010.

Same-day trips accounted for 2.4 million of that, up 3.9 per cent from March. Overnight travel rose 6.4 per cent to 1.1 million trips by car, and 2.2 per cent, or 622,000 trips, by plane.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/06/17/travel-statistics-april.html

[slackmaster]

1. I can't help but wonder how many of the southbound trips involve spies

[MineralMan]

3. Probably a minuscule number.

Most of the trips were probably for shopping or entertainment. That's a good thing. People spending money in the US is good.

[ejpoeta]

9. we definitely get a lot of folks shopping and such in wny. when we go to darien lake

(theme park) there are always lots of canadian cars in the parking lot. i havent been to the mall in buffalo in a long time but they are always doing stories about canadians shopping at the malls. and the traffic over the bridges. i don't begrudge them. i used to go up there myself. granted, we didn't do much while we were there. I don't know if I'll go back... I don't have a passport nor am I sure if I am even willing to get an enhanced driver's license just so I can go to canada. Can't really afford it.

[Frisbee]

10. Actually, I believe most are coming for our...

best health care system in the world.

[Submariner]

8. They come to the U.S. for hockey and skating lessons

[trud]

17. bacon? n/t

[thatgemguy]

2. Favorable exchange rate for them.

Thanks to the weak American Dollar.

[meegbear]

4. And it's a hell of a lot cheaper than flying ...

A round trip from Boston to Montreal can cost as much as a round trip from Boston to Los Angeles. Absurd.

[KT2000]

5. Shopping - shopping - shopping

I hear there are lines to just get into the parking lots of malls nearest the border.

[JBoy]

11. And in those parking lots you'll find old shoes.

Canadians wear a shitty pair of shoes heading down, buy a new pair at the outlet mall, change into the new shoes, throw the old ones in the dumpster, and wear the new shoes back, not declaring them at the border.

[KT2000]

14. thanks for the hint

my local second hand store is really marking up their shoes - dumpster diving at the border outlet malls may be the next thing. :bounce:

[jannyk]

6. With the strength of their dollar, this is not surprising. nt

[JBoy]

7. I've heading across the border much more in the last year.

For shopping and Mexican food. Seriously, Bellingham WA has a taco shop that beats anything I've ever had up here.

[southernyankeebelle]

12. Why the increase? I know I use to see allot of cars come over the border in

MT. The cars were at the shopping centers.

[leftynyc]

13. My nephew and some friends

made a car trip to Montreal last week. They all just finished their freshman year at college and the drinking age in Canada is 18. Simple.

[tanyev]

15. We're thinking about a car trip from Texas to Winnipeg to see relatives.

Flying has gotten to be too much of a pain for everything we need to bring along for a Type 1 diabetic.

[alp227]

16. not to forget the perverted search methods of the TSA n/t