Clock confusion no more

REYNOSA — The daylight-savings switch that confounded cross-border travelers since 2007 is no more.
Mexican cities along the U.S. border will now synchronize with U.S. clocks, ending those confusing four weeks when communities separated by a well-traveled border seemingly existed in a different time zone.

“It was kind of unproductive to have it that way,” said Miriam Medel, a spokeswoman for the Mexican consulate in McAllen. “People would actually show up late to places or they were always calling and trying to figure out when to arrive. It happened (at the consulate.)”

The confusion stems from March 2007, when the U.S. and Canada adopted a new daylight-saving schedule as a measure for energy conservation. Mexico did not make the switch, opting to keep the traditional schedule and set clocks an hour forward three weeks later.

Then in November that same year the discrepancy repeated when Mexico switched to standard time a week before the U.S. and Canada. For four a weeks a year, the time difference puzzled the thousands of border dwellers who cross daily for work, school and family.

Dan McGrew, president of the Reynosa Maquiladoras and Manufacturers Association, said the time difference is particularly confusing for factories which already have to coordinate schedules with corporate offices and other manufacturers in several different time zones.

“Then when you have a disconnect between Texas and Mexico it ends up creating some confusion,” McGrew said. “We always miss meetings. At some point somebody gets confused.”

Ricky Perez, spokesman for the Roma school district, said while the time difference never seemed to affect the students who cross the border daily to attend American schools, the change is welcomed.

“If you’re asking my personal opinion, I would think it would be best this way,” he said. “There will be less confusion.”

The confusion, however, is relative, because Mexico is adopting the new schedule in 2010 only for border cities and not for the interior. The measure passed with little opposition in Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies on Dec. 10 and then again in Mexico’s Senate on Dec. 15.
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Sean Gaffney covers business, the economy and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434.