On a train or in a car? For example, I'm in Buffalo, NY, and Wednesday's drive crossing took all of 30 seconds. "Where are you going?" with glance at passport, then "Have a nice day." Returning to Canada is much more thorough (for a Canadian).
It depends on how you define modern times. I've written before about how laid back crossing the BC-Washington border was prior to the 1970's. For example, in 1965 the Canadian officer boarded our Northern Pacific excursion train with 250 passengers at Sedro-Wooley and waved us across with one question: was everyone on this train a U.S. citizen? I don't even remember the U.S. check coming back the next day.
In September 1991 my wife and I went to a Red Sox game in Detroit but she demanded we stay in Windsor.
Actually, there was a phase in which passengers had to alight from the Pacific International at Blaine and carry their luggage to an inspection point that had a computer terminal.
It only recently resumed a full schedule following the pandemic after a slow restart for special events and sporting events. (A lot of Ontarians in the area are Tigers, Red Wings and Lions fans.) The current iteration of the tunnel bus started in 1982 and is primarily funded by the city of Windsor - the source of most traffic. Some attempts to augment support have been made over the years with casinos on both sides and Detroit sports teams involved. The actual route has changed several times, with 3 or 4 stops in Detroit. It is particularly useful for attending the annual Detroit Auto Show and for a short period VIA ran a morning through train from Oshawa, ON, (GM Canadian HQ at the time) to Windsor, with the Tunnel Bus extended to the station only during the show. Normally the bus runs from the Windsor downtown depot and used to be an hourly service with extras for events and sports. Passengers disembark at either end for formalities.
Yes. I liked the Port of Del Bonita. MT, especially for access to the Cut Bank Amtrak station. On the other hand, as I've written here before, at Sweet Grass, MT I was questioned by US officials as to why I was leaving the U.S. As a Berlin veteran I'm touchy about questions like that.
I've crossed at both of those and several others in MT, we were with my wife's uncle when he had his car tossed going to Lethbridge, I think it was at Del Bonita. But you never know what you're going to get. Of course, neither do they and they have to deal with the likes of us all darned day.
My younger son attended the University of Maine at Fort Kent so on one visit up there we decided to walk across the bridge to Clair NB where there was a pizza place he liked. I think we caught the border officials off guard as they weren't used to walk ins but they let us through without any problem. This was back when they had the old steel truss bridge, now replaced by the usual boring concrete structure.
Perhaps the problem is with Niagara Falls and Cantic border station CBSA staff. I have not crossed any of the western borders in decades now, so have no idea what happens there.
As I mentioned in another thread, back in the '70's, I rode the Empire State Express (or was it the Niagara Rainbow by then? Not sure), I boarded in Detroit, and the passenger's going through to Buffalo and beyond were in a "sealed" section of the train, and we were not even inspected, at all. There was a separate car for passenger's getting on or off in Canada, where those passenger's were given a brief inspection.
