On Wednesday, several hundred people gathered at the border control post 'Chongar', Vesti reporting that vacationers were close to starting a riot after being unable to pass even the checkpoint on the Ukrainian side for over four hours.
A would-be vacationer named Andrei told Vesti:
"We were not allowed to make it even to the checkpoint. They tell us different things: either that the database has crashed, or that there has been a shift change. Cars are coming through, but people are standing still. There are 200 people waiting here."
As a result of the measures, people now face a 4-6 hour wait time at the Ukrainian-Russian border in Crimea, and sometimes even longer.
Граница Материк-Крым, начало в 5 утра, в 17:00 проехали. Ровно 12 часов заняло прохождение pic.twitter.com/pz4RkMCttw
— Ватный Севастополь (@sevasvata) 30 апреля 2015
"The border between Materik-Crimea; arriving at 5 in the morning, we passed at 5pm. It took us exactly 12 hours to make it through."
Automobiles, But Not Trains or Planes
In the midst of Ukraine's political crisis with Russia, people have been looking for new ways to get to the Crimean peninsula, despite increased expenses and the cutting off of train and passenger air service from inside Ukraine.
Newspapers and social media groups have offered complex schemes by bus, taxi and private minibuses, the latter growing up around cities and villages bordering Crimea. Experts suggest taking trains and buses to southern population centers, before getting on taxis and minibuses to go the rest of the way, making it across the border on foot (which usually takes only 20-40 minutes). On the Crimean side, visitors are told to get on minibus routes organized to accommodate them and to take them to their destinations.