Yes, your morning drive is taking longer

It's not your imagination.If you drive to work, you're probably spending more time stuck in traffic.

According to Statistics Canada, the drive to work has been getting longer for an increasing contingent of motorists in Ottawa and Gatineau.

The number of drivers who commuted to work forat least 60 minutes swelledfrom 15,845 in 2011 to 18,045in 2016, according toSbastien Larochelle-Ct, one of the authors of a StatsCan study on long commutes published last week.

That's an increase ofnearly 14 per centtriple the 4.6 per cent increase nationally among the same category of drivers.

It's affecting everyone. The average commute is taking more time, no matter how you travel.

'Long and frustrating'

AnnieSte-Croixestimatedit takes her 1 hours to drive 20 kilometres from her home in Orlans to her government job in Gatineau.

There is no viablepublic transit option, she said, so each work day begins and ends with a "long and frustrating"road trip.

"It does impact my entire day and cuts into family time," said the mother of two young children."It's 12 or 13 per cent of my day just commuting, so my work-life balance is affected."

But it appears motorists aren'tbeing deterred by the longer drives.

In fact, the study founda 4.6 per centincrease ofcar commuters in the region (from 432,390 people in 2011 to 452,210 in 2016), compared to a 2.9 per cent increasenationally.

Public transit takes longer

Although carcommutes are taking longer, they still beat public transit when it comes to getting to workon time.

It takes almost twice as long to get to your destination on a local busthan it does by car.

The average drive to work in the region was 24.7 minutes in 2016, while theride on public transit averaged 42.2 minutes. Compared with 2011, transit riders are spending nearly four minutes longer on the road, on average.

In Ottawa and Gatineau in 2016, 58 per centof all commuters who took at leastone hour to get to work usedpublic transit, compared to 40 per centnationally.

This is part of CBC Ottawa's special seriesNowhere Fast, a look at how and why people commute in the capital region.

We'll be looking at the people, numbers and stories that are part of your daily tripto and from work.