To and fro: the connective, reflective, and transformative realities of commuting

It’s a bracing December morning. The sun won’t be up for another few hours as high school teacher Dawn Legrow gets into her car to drive to work. Living in Reaboro, Legrow works in Toronto’s west end. Her commute can take anywhere from two to three hours. Meanwhile, just north of Lindsay, Chris Schmidt puts the address of his downtown Toronto office into the GPS and sits back as his self-driving car pulls out of the driveway. Schmidt’s foot won’t have to touch the break or gas pedals for the majority, if not all, of his commute. A few hours later, Robyn James returns home from walking her kids to school. As she passes her car in the driveway, a memory of her commuting days flashes in her mind. James breathes a sigh of relief as she realizes she doesn’t have to spend the next few hours sitting in traffic today, or tomorrow, or until she chooses to visit the GTA on her own terms.

The cost of commuting to the GTA from Kawartha Lakes is high. With climbing gas prices, toll fees to use Hwy 407 and avoid a jam-packed Hwy 401, and up to six hours a day spent in the car, excellent financial planning and time management are key. Gas alone will run Monday to Friday commuters around $650 per month. If you include a few uses of the 407 (with a transponder) you can add another $56 dollars per round trip – that’s an extra $243 per month to use the toll highway just once a week. Add in an occasional breakfast purchased at a drive-thru because of a missed alarm, or a last-minute stay in a hotel due to a sudden snowstorm and the monthly cost of being a commuter easily passes $1,000.

Though the financial costs are nothing to sneeze at, our commuters agreed that one of the worst parts of commuting is the ever-increasing traffic. Especially as people continue to move their home-life out of the GTA while their work-life remains in the city.

“This is my 10th year commuting (and) every year the traffic has gotten worse,” says Legrow. James echoes this sentiment, saying that when she first started commuting back in 2014, “I didn’t even think about it, but as the years went on, I got more anxious and worried for my safety.” According to a recent article in the Toronto Star, “in the past two years, 220,000 more Canadians have abandoned Ontario’s capital than arrived.” To compare, back in 2017 that number was only 40,000.

We may be experiencing a balmy fall this year (in fact, on Nov 5, a 65-year-old high temperature record was broken by a few degrees), but worsening weather is the other major concern for our commuters. Legrow and James both said that the weather has become more unpredictable over the years, with severe storms coming on more suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere, making planning for poor road conditions a huge challenge. “I have a storm playlist for rain and snow, because I really want to concentrate,” says Legrow. “I always have a bag packed in the winter, and I keep it in my car from October to March,” in case she needs to stay the night to wait out a storm. In 2021, CBC reported that “(extreme weather) is happening more quickly than expected… the science supports our experiences.”

The combination of worsening traffic and weather makes for driving conditions that bring out the worst in people, creating drivers that are impatient and frustrated. “If you look around, no one’s joyous and they take bigger risks,” says Schmidt. Legrow points out that “the stubbornness to drive doesn’t pay off,” as she’s learnt over a decade of living one to three hours’ drive from her job. She continues, “there’s the odd time I have to use sick days because I haven’t had enough sleep and it’s not safe to drive.”

Given the added costs, energy and stress, many people need a good reason to justify the commuter lifestyle, whether it’s a dream job or dream home and community. “There’s something different about Lindsay that I love,” says Legrow, who wants to work locally, but as a teacher, switching to the Trillium Lakelands District School Board would mean losing her seniority. “There’s a safe sense of community that a small town has to offer,” says Schmidt, “so much of our friend group moved here from major cities, there’s something very appealing about that broad perspective in a small town.” Schmidt, who’s commuted to Toronto twice a week for four years, bought his car new in June and has already put over 26,000 km on his odometer. For James, her dream job kept her commuting for years, until recently the toll of the driving grind caught up and when the opportunity to take a break from working arose, she took it. James previously commuted to Toronto three days a week, driving to Oshawa and taking the GO train the rest of the way, using train time to get extra work done.

On top of having a solid raison d’être, our commuters said the trick to surviving a long commute is the right type of distraction. Something that will help you pass the time but doesn’t take away from being a good driver. Boredom can feel like it’s just a nuisance, but while driving it can be deadly. Legrow says boredom is one of her biggest challenges and though “rural roads might be technically longer, it doesn’t feel that way because they’re more interesting.” Legrow, James, and Schmidt are all big fans of listening to music and podcasts to stay engaged on the commute. “If I had to give someone advice, find something to listen to or do that makes you want to stay in the car,” James says, the right podcasts had her “getting out of the car feeling inspired.” Schmidt – whose commute sometimes involves flying on top of his regular drive – says the time in the car provides an opportunity “to get connected with people or be reflective in the stillness.”

For parents in particular, their commute might be the most uninterrupted time they get to themselves. “Driving home is the perfect time to make that phone call you never get to,” says James, who’s youngest just started kindergarten. Similarly, Legrow uses the drive home for phone calls, as she feels less rushed than in the morning. Though she teaches kids in the city, her own children attend school in Kawartha Lakes. “It’s time I’m able to connect with people,” says Schmidt, “on days I’m not commuting I have less time to check in on my friends.” Schmidt chose Lindsay because he wants his kids to grow up where it’s safe and they have more space to just be kids.

The energy in Toronto is very different from Kawartha Lakes and stereotypes about city vs. small town folk has some basis in reality. The city is very stimulating, with crowds generating a sense of urgency – even if you aren’t in a rush yourself you might find yourself picking up the pace. In a small town like Lindsay and area, people will take their time for pleasantries and there’s more patience. When you’re a commuter, you occupy both urban and rural spaces, which requires constant code switching.

“In some ways, when you go from a small town to an urban centre, you almost metamorphosize into the person you need to be,” says James. The hours on the road, the commute, gives time for this transformation “back to who you were when you lived in the city,” says James. She continues, “as you come home, people start to dissipate and you’re driving on smaller roads, you come back to your small-town self.”