94,500 commuters say they spend more than an hour in the car in each direction every day, according to Statistics Canada.
“The results are not surprising,” said Annie Gauthier, spokesperson for CAA Quebec.
Congestion on Montreal area highways is one of many factors contributing to the delays, according to Gauthier.
“Mornings it takes me about an hour,” said Tony, a CJAD 800 listener who called the newsroom to describe his daily commute from RDP to Dorval. “Normally it’s a 20-25 minute drive.”
“At night, it all depending on traffic,” he added. “It can take an hour to an hour and a half.”
The highway is the only option for Tony, who needs to be at work before 7am.
“There’s a train station in Lachine, and if they put more trains on and better hours, I’d be taking the train,” he said. “The highway is just ridiculous. There is no solution.”
Gauthier suggested more investment into public transit could help relieve overcrowding on the roads and highways, but similar delays already exist for transit users.
“Normal times, it’s already an hour and 20-25 minutes,” said CJAD 800 listener Rosalie, who takes the bus and metro from Chomedey to downtown Montreal each morning. “But, this winter with the bad weather and everything and the longer bus rides and all the metro breakdowns, it’s been taking an hour and 45 minutes to two hours.”
Long commute times are up in big cities across the country.
More than 850,000 Canadians nation-wide spend more than 60 minutes driving to work in the morning, according to the survey, representing a 5 per cent jump since 2011.