Porubne–Siret: how long the crossing really takes
Every one of our Romanian destinations runs through this crossing — Siret, Suceava, Iași, Bucharest. The Chișinău trip does not: it goes to Moldova through a different crossing. The timetable already contains the average crossing time: we show the 82 km to Suceava as 2 h 15 min precisely because the road alone is about an hour.
The last two figures are a measurement, not an example: 1,533 coach crossings through Porubne–Siret leaving Ukraine, 2025-07-01 — 2025-08-05. What was measured is the whole border crossing — from your slot time to leaving the checkpoint. This is history, not the queue right now.
Live data is not connected yet. We plan to take it from nakordoni.eu and from the open data of єЧерга, updating it every 10 minutes — showing the time not only here but also in the search results and on your ticket page. For now we are connected to neither source: it is a plan, not a working feed.
Until then there will be no figure in this space at all. Showing a plausible number instead of a real one is the cheapest way to destroy trust at exactly the moment you are standing in the queue and can see it is not true.
What we CAN show instead is how long this crossing actually took, from measured data. It is below, in its own block, with the month in the heading.
How long this border really takes
This is a chart of the past, not the queue right now. No second release of the data was ever published, so these figures describe 01.07.2025–05.08.2025 — and nothing later.
Ukraine publishes the єЧерга border-queue data openly. We parsed it and counted 1,533 crossings that carry all three timestamps: coaches, Porubne–Siret, leaving Ukraine, 36 days from 2025-07-01 to 2025-08-05. What follows is not an estimate but the distribution of measured durations.
What those minutes are made of
In the єЧерга system every coach carries three timestamps: the hour it was booked into the queue, the moment it entered the checkpoint and the moment it left. That gives three different durations — and they are the ones most often confused.
- Waiting before the checkpoint53 minthe wait before the checkpoint only
- The checks inside the checkpoint39 minchecks inside the checkpoint only — not the whole border
- The whole crossing1 h 38 minthe whole border crossing — from your slot time to leaving the checkpoint
Medians do not add up: 53 + 39 = 92, while the median of the whole crossing is 98. The median of a sum is not the sum of the medians, so each of the three figures only means anything next to its own stage. All three are computed over the same sample.
We are the ones who put “40–60 minutes” on this page. That figure describes checks inside the checkpoint only — not the whole border: the measured median is 39 min. But it reads as the whole border, and the whole border is 1 h 38 min. The gap is nearly an hour, and an hour is what a missed flight costs.
By the hour the coach is booked into
The columns are grouped by the єЧерга slot hour (Kyiv time) — the hour the operator picks, and therefore the only one anybody can influence. Column height is the median of the whole crossing for that hour.
- 0000:00 — median 1 h 30 min, p90 3 h 56 min, sample 41
- 01:00 — too little data, sample 28
- 02:00 — too little data, sample 17
- 0303:00 — too little data, sample 13
- 04:00 — median 1 h 25 min, p90 2 h 24 min, sample 39
- 05:00 — median 46 min, p90 2 h 7 min, sample 85
- 0606:00 — median 1 h 14 min, p90 2 h 8 min, sample 64
- 07:00 — median 1 h 24 min, p90 2 h 19 min, sample 74
- 08:00 — median 1 h 8 min, p90 1 h 59 min, sample 56
- 0909:00 — median 1 h 23 min, p90 2 h 31 min, sample 64
- 10:00 — median 1 h 44 min, p90 2 h 46 min, sample 72
- 11:00 — median 1 h 56 min, p90 3 h 10 min, sample 87
- 1212:00 — median 2 h 9 min, p90 3 h 46 min, sample 54
- 13:00 — median 1 h 35 min, p90 2 h 54 min, sample 55
- 14:00 — median 1 h 52 min, p90 3 h 36 min, sample 91
- 1515:00 — median 1 h 48 min, p90 3 h 8 min, sample 84
- 16:00 — median 2 h 2 min, p90 3 h 5 min, sample 83
- 17:00 — median 1 h 43 min, p90 3 h 12 min, sample 96
- 1818:00 — median 1 h 49 min, p90 3 h 27 min, sample 80
- 19:00 — median 1 h 50 min, p90 3 h 13 min, sample 81
- 20:00 — median 1 h 36 min, p90 2 h 59 min, sample 62
- 2121:00 — median 1 h 38 min, p90 3 h 24 min, sample 84
- 22:00 — median 1 h 54 min, p90 3 h 28 min, sample 81
- 23:00 — median 1 h 51 min, p90 4 h 59 min, sample 42
the calmest hourthe heaviest hourtoo little data
The calmest hour is 05:00: a median of 46 min over a sample of 85. The heaviest is 12:00: 2 h 9 min over 54. That is more than an hour apart, on the same road, at the same checkpoint, in the same month.
The hours 01:00 (n 28), 02:00 (n 17), 03:00 (n 13) are not shown here and are not eligible for “calmest” or “heaviest”: fewer than 30 crossings fell into each, which is no longer a measurement. Thirteen coaches at three in the morning are not a timetable, and we will not turn them into advice.
By day of the week
| Day | Median, min | p90, min | Over 3 h | n |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mondaylowest median | 90 | 170 | 7.8% | 192 |
| Tuesday | 110 | 207 | 14.4% | 202 |
| Wednesdayhighest median | 118 | 219 | 21% | 233 |
| Thursday | 93 | 176 | 9.6% | 230 |
| Friday | 101 | 168 | 7.2% | 251 |
| Saturday | 92 | 160 | 7.7% | 222 |
| Sunday | 94 | 183 | 10.3% | 203 |
The median and p90 are in minutes. Both describe the whole border crossing — from your slot time to leaving the checkpoint.
The heaviest day is Wednesday, not the weekend. Saturday is the second calmest day of the week, and Sunday is barely different from Thursday. The common belief that weekends are worst is not what this measurement shows — at least for July 2025 and for coaches leaving Ukraine.
When the crossing goes easier
The 05:00 slot — a median of 46 min, the lowest of the day. The calmest weekday is Monday: a median of 1 h 30 min. This is not a promise about tomorrow; it is how the measured durations fell in July 2025.
The 12:00 slot — a median of 2 h 9 min. The heaviest day is Wednesday: a median of 1 h 58 min, with 21% of that day's crossings running over three hours, against 7.8% on Monday. Avoid the pair if you have the choice.
The slot hour is chosen by the operator, not the passenger: the timetable shows the departure time from the city, not the time in the queue. These figures explain why the same service arrives differently on different days rather than handing you a “faster” button.
What this data does not say
- This is history, not the current queue: 1,533 real crossings measured in July 2025. It says nothing about how many coaches are waiting at the border right now.
- The data covers leaving Ukraine only (Porubne → Siret). No open data exists for the return direction.
- July is peak season, and the measurements pre-date the EU Entry/Exit System (EES). Checks may take longer today.
- Scheduled coaches that booked a slot in the єЧерга system only.
- This is not a measure of our own coaches. The sample covers every scheduled coach that booked a slot at this checkpoint; we did not split it by carrier and will not, because one month says nothing about a named operator.
- One month is a snapshot, not a trend. Nothing here can support “the border is getting faster” or “slower”: no second release of this data was ever published.
Data: «єЧерга» / data.gov.ua (CC BY 4.0) · The dataset on data.gov.ua · CC BY 4.0
The file was last updated on 2025-08-06 — and not once since, although the catalogue promises monthly updates. That is exactly why the “queue right now” block above shows a dash and not this median.
What this crossing is
Porubne (Ukraine) — Siret (Romania) is the main road crossing between Bukovina and Romania, 42 km south of Chernivtsi. It is open around the clock and takes cars, buses and lorries. Since Romania joined the Schengen area this is an external Schengen border: Romanian control here is entry not just into Romania but into the whole area.
What the crossing looks like from inside the bus
- The queue to enterBuses queue separately from cars. This is where the time is least predictable — after this it moves relatively evenly.
- Ukrainian passport controlThe border officer boards the bus, or the passengers step out with their passports — it depends on how busy it is. Keep your passport in hand, not in your luggage.
- Ukrainian customsSpot checks. Questions about goods for sale, cash above the declaration limit, tobacco and alcohol.
- The neutral zoneA few minutes of driving. The bus can also wait here if the Romanian side has not yet cleared the lane.
- Romanian passport controlEntry into Schengen: a passport check, sometimes questions about the purpose of the trip and a return ticket. On a first crossing, biometric registration.
- Romanian customsSpot checks on luggage. EU restrictions on bringing in meat and dairy apply here too — they ask about it regularly.
What documents you need
- A passport valid at least 3 months beyond the return date. An internal passport or ID card is not accepted for the crossing.
- No visa is required for Ukrainian citizens: 90 visa-free days in any 180.
- A child of any age travels on their own passport. If travelling without one parent, the notarised consent of the other and proof of the accompanying adult’s relationship may be required.
- Men aged 18–60 — documents confirming their right to leave the country. The Ukrainian side checks this; the carrier has no influence over the decision.
- A pet — a microchip, a valid rabies vaccination, an EU pet passport or an international veterinary certificate.
Crossing rules change, and a carrier has no right to interpret them in the border officer’s place. The current requirements are on the websites of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and the Romanian Border Police. The decision to let a particular person through is the border officer’s alone.
Why the queue is so unpredictable
How long the crossing takes depends less on the number of vehicles than on how many lanes are open on both sides at once, and that is decided on the spot. Hence the spread the measurement shows: a quarter of crossings came in under 1 h 8 min, one in ten took 3 h 6 min or more, and the longest recorded crossing ran 13 h 35 min. Neither we nor anyone else can promise a particular duration in advance.
- A bus queues separately and is usually faster than the cars. But the check covers the whole coach at once: if one passenger raises a question, everybody waits.
- Biometrics on your first entry. The European entry/exit registration system operates at the external Schengen border: on your first crossing they take fingerprints and a photo, and later ones go faster.
How our departures account for this
- The journey time in the timetable is border included, not “clear road plus a surprise”. That is why the 82 km to Suceava is 2 h 15 min.
- Departures for morning flights are deliberately set at night hours: it is both the fastest border and the only way to make check-in.
- If you gave the flight number, dispatch sees it and moves the pickup by hand when the plane is late — there is a separate section about it in the terms of carriage.
- Before the crossing the driver makes a stop: coffee and a toilet. Inside the crossing itself you may not leave the bus without the border officer’s permission.
Departures, prices and free seats — the same rows dispatch sees. No prepayment, and the seat is held for 20 minutes.