Mar 28, 2008 - 01:00 PM

Jillian Follert

DURHAM -- John Thomas doesn’t do all his sleeping at home in bed.

On any given weekday morning, you can find this Whitby resident catching his last hour or so of shut-eye in the front seat of his car.

And no, he’s not driving at the time.

Mr. Thomas is one of a growing number of commuters who dodge morning gridlock by leaving for work extra early, then snooze at the office for a bit before punching the clock.

“My sons bought me one of those electric seat warmers for the car, so it’s actually quite comfortable to sleep in there,” Mr. Thomas said with a chuckle.

On a typical day, Mr. Thomas leaves his home in Whitby at 5 a.m. and arrives at his office in Mississauga in just under an hour.

He grabs 90 minutes of sleep in the car, eats some hot cereal at his desk, and starts the work day at 7:30 a.m. sharp.

At the end of the day, he hits the road at 3:30 p.m. and usually makes it home in about an hour and 15 minutes -- although snowstorms can push that to an agonizing three hours or more.

Why does he do it?

“I’ve been working for Bell Canada for 30 years, so I have a lot at stake there,” he said.

His family, which includes a wife and two teenage sons, is firmly entrenched in Whitby, so he doesn’t see moving closer to work as an option.

“I’m just trying to get through this so I can retire,” he said with a sigh.

Mr. Thomas’s story is a familiar one to thousands of Durham residents who hit the highways every morning to commute to jobs across the GTA.

This Week recently put the call out for commuter stories and heard from nearly 100 people across Durham Region.

Their driving times range from 30 minutes to two hours each way, doubling and tripling when the roads are bad. They do all kinds of jobs, working as nearby as Scarborough and as far away as Guelph.

Why do they do it?

Many, like Clarington’s Sonya Yake, love their jobs and can’t find anything comparable in Durham -- and they like living here and don’t want to move further west.

“It’s hard to find good jobs in Durham,” said Ms. Yake, who works as a financial services manager in Markham. “With all due respect, retail jobs and things like that don’t compare to the good jobs you can find in the city.”

She commutes one hour each way to work but isn’t willing to pick up and move. She calls Leskard, the tiny hamlet where she lives, a “hidden treasure.”   

Oshawa resident Gord Veldhoen, who commutes 40 minutes each way to his job in quality control, says affordable housing is a big part of the equation.

“I enjoy the job that I have, but I’ve also looked for jobs in Oshawa and haven’t been able to find anything,” he said. “I can’t afford to move closer to work; the housing here is the most affordable.”   

Regional Chairman Roger Anderson says the biggest problems are the lack of jobs in Durham -- which forces the region’s growing population to head west every day for work -- and a lack of infrastructure investment from the Province.

Local government is doing its part by investing in infrastructure and improving major roads, Mr. Anderson said, but he stresses there is little that can be done to solve Durham’s commuter nightmare unless the Province gets on board.

“The Province suggests that in Durham, we should only have one job per every three people, when really it should by one job per every two people, like many other municipalities have,” he said, referencing the Province’s Places to Grow plan. “We want people to grow up here, get an education here, then actually work here, not be in their cars for three hours a day and just come here to park their car and sleep, then get back in the next day.”

The Province says it is investing in infrastructure in Durham and trying to solve immediate commuter problems by making it easier to get in and out of the region.

Every second year, Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation (MTO) monitors highway travel times and average speeds during peak hours.

The next scheduled assessment will begin in September 2008.

Looking at data collected in 2006 that compares speeds and travel times with data from 2004, spokesman Bob Nichols said there were some improvements and some evidence things are getting worse.

During the morning rush hour, average speeds on the westbound 401 through Durham either improved or stayed the same.

As for the evening rush hour, the 2006 review showed significant congestion on the 401 eastbound from Brock Road in Pickering to Brock Street in Whitby, usually starting a few hundred metres west of Lakeridge Road.

Mr. Nichols said MTO is working on solutions to help Durham.

“We are continuing our partnership with Durham Region to build three new Hwy. 401 interchanges at Salem Road (already completed) Stevenson Road (under construction) and Lake Ridge Road to improve traffic flow, safety and highway access,” he said. 

The Ministry is also looking at widening Hwy. 7 from two to four lanes between Brock Road and Hwy 12. That project is subject to property acquisitions and utility clearances, but the aim is to start construction in 2009 and wrap up by 2012.

As well, Mr. Nichols said there are several planning and design studies underway to determine the long-term requirements for Hwy. 401 through Durham, including a technical feasibility study to review and update the Hwy. 401 ultimate plan from Brock Road to Courtice Road and a preliminary design study for the widening of Hwy. 401 from Brock Street to Stevenson Road.

As well, Durham has received $4.9 million in gas tax funding for public transit and plans are inching along to extend the 407. 

For Heather Sparacino, these changes can’t come soon enough.

Over 10 years spent commuting with a carpool from Whitby to Markham, she’s watched the same drive grow from 45 minutes each way to an hour -- and assumes it will keep getting worse.

Ms. Sparacino said she loves her job and the people she works with, but she’d love to dodge the daily grind. However, she isn’t willing to move away from the home she’s known for 20 years.

“We try every alternate route we can think of to avoid the traffic, but as the years go by, other people discover them too,” she said. “We’re very frustrated commuters.”