Tijuana

Tijuana is the largest city of both Baja California State and the Baja California Peninsula. It is part of the San Diego–Tijuana transborder urban agglomeration and the larger Southern California megalopolis. As the 6th-largest city in Mexico and center of the 6th-largest metro area in Mexico, Tijuana exerts a strong influence in education and politics – across Mexico, in transportation, culture and art – across all three Californias (the U.S. state of California, Baja California and Baja California Sur), and in manufacturing and as a migration hub – across the North American continent. Currently one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in Mexico, Tijuana is rated as a "High Sufficiency" global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. As of September 2019, the city of Tijuana had a population of 1,300,983, with its metropolitan area containing a population of 2,140,398 as of 2020, an estimated 2,002,000 within the urban area.

Crime

Crime has seen a sharp rise in the city as a result of Drug Cartels and the Mexican Drug War. The city had the highest homicide rate of 138 per 100,000 people.

Demographics

Tijuana has a diverse cosmopolitan population which includes migrants from other parts of Mexico and from all over the world. Tijuana has one of Mexico's largest Asian populations, predominantly consisting of Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese immigrants. Tijuana also has a large and rapidly growing population of United States citizens, mostly from Southern California. Many Latin Americans, notably Cubans, and Guatemalans, have made Tijuana their home. The city also has many Lebanese, Italian, French, Spanish citizens. Recently, the city has received a large influx of Haitian immigrants

Roads

Two important Mexican federal highway corridors start in Tijuana, one of them is Fed 1, which runs south through the Baja California Peninsula through Rosarito Beach, Baja Mar, and Ensenada before ending in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur. From Tijuana to Ensenada, most travelers take Fed 1D (scenic road), a four-lane, limited access toll road that runs by the coast starting at Playas de Tijuana. Fed 2 runs east for 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) near the international border, as far as Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Within the metropolitan area the Corredor Tijuana-Rosarito 2000 freeway connecte Mesa de Otay in the northeast of the city with Rosarito Beach in the southwest. Just north of the San Ysidro border crossing, Interstate 5 and Interstate 805 head northbound to San Diego and beyond. From the Otay Mesa border crossing, California State Route 905 takes drivers west to connect with California State Route 125 toll road, as well as both I-805 and I-5 .

Geography

Tijuana is the westernmost city in Mexico, and consequently in Latin America, and the second largest city of northern Mexico. Located about 210 kilometers (130 mi) west of the state capital, Mexicali, the city is bordered to the north by the cities of Imperial Beach, and the San Diego neighborhoods of San Ysidro and Otay Mesa, California. To the southwest of the city is Rosarito Beach, while to the south is unincorporated territory of Tijuana Municipality. The city is nestled among hills, canyons, and gullies. The central part of the city lies in a valley through which flows the channeled Tijuana River. Housing development in the Tijuana Hills has led to eradication of many seasonal mountain streams. This lack of natural drainage makes places within the city vulnerable to landslides during the rainy season. The varied terrain of Tijuana gives the city elevation extremes that range from sea level to 790 meters (2,590 ft). Tijuana is noted for its rough terrain, which includes many canyons, steep hills, and mesas. Among noted canyons in Tijuana are Canyon K and Canyon Johnson. Large Tijuana hills include Red Hill (Cerro Colorado) and Hill of the Bees (Cerro de las Abejas) in the eastern part of the city. The city is located near the terminus of the Tijuana River and within the Tijuana River Basin. The Tijuana River is an intermittent river, 195 km (121 mi) long, on the Pacific coast of northern Baja California in Mexico and Southern California in the United States. It drains an arid area along the California–Baja California border, flowing through Mexico for most of its course and then crossing the border for the last 8 km (5 mi) of its course where it forms an estuary that empties into the ocean. The river's lower reaches harbor the last undeveloped coastal wetlands in San Diego County, and some of the last in Southern California, amidst a highly urbanized environment at the southern city limits of Imperial Beach. As downtown Tijuana was built at the bottom of the river valley, the district is subject to seasonal flooding created by drain-off from the Tijuana Hills. During this time, east-bound portions of the Via Rapida (east-west highway) may be blocked off by the Tijuana Police due to hazardous conditions.

Water

The Tijuana State Commission of Public Services (CESPT) supplies the city with its water, while the city receives its electricity from La Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE). In 2019, due to extremely low water levels at El Carrizo Reservoir, CESPT began a city-wide water rationing scheme. This rationing scheme would divide Tijuana and nearby Rosarito into 5 zones. Each zone would be cut-off from the water supply on a rotating schedule of 4 days with water and 1 day without water. This scheme was expected to last for at least 2 months until the water levels at El Carrizo Reservoir were improved.

Education

Tijuana is home to many private Primary Schools, Secondary Schools and High Schools as well as nationally high ranked colleges and universities. Notable primary and secondary schools include Metropolitan, Instituto México, Instituto Cumbres, President Lázaro Cárdenas School, Agua Caliente School Center High, Politécnico de Baja California(CLUB DE QUÍMICA), José Fimbres Moreno School and the State High School, and Ignacio Ramírez School located in Cerro Colorado. These schools maintain recognition for their demands and high standards. Tijuana maintains multiple higher education institutions. These include the Autonomous University of Baja California (Tijuana campus), Instituto Tecnológico de Tijuana (ITT), Universidad Iberoamericana (Tijuana campus), CETYS Universidad, Universidad Xochicalco, and University of the Californias. Other colleges include Tijuana University Center, Tijuana University of Technology, Graduate Center of the Northwest, and the University of Professional Development. The city is the seat of the Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF), an institution of scientific research and higher education, specializing in the study of the problems in the border region between Mexico and the United States. In August 2009, Metropolitan UABC opened in Valle de Las Palmas, in the Tijuana metropolitan area.

Local Busses

In 2006, Tijuana underwent a major overhaul of its existing system of guayines, or shared fixed-route station wagons, forcing the replacement of the guayines with new models of vans, serving as fixed-route taxis. Major transit hubs include Centro (Downtown Tijuana), Otay, Soler, and the Cinco y Diez avenues. Taxi lines operating in the city include Free Taxis, those that do not maintain a specific route; Economic Taxis; Diamond Taxis – black or yellow cabs; and regular taxis maintaining a set route. There are as many bus lines and routes as fixed-route taxi ones or calafias, and new routes for buses, taxis or calafias are frequently created, due to high demand of public transportation. Public transportation service is inexpensive, with bus tickets at maximum, USD $0.75. Fixed-route taxis are somewhat more expensive, depending on the taxi route, reaching USD $2.00. Bus, taxi and calafia lines and routes are distinguished from one another by their vehicles colors.