According to new Census data, 16 percent of the working public in Steinbach spend more than 30 minutes each day driving one way to work. And, 7 percent have a commute longer than 60 minutes.

One of those commuters is Trevor Lytwyn, who owns the Steinbach Booster Juice location with his wife. For Lytwyn, a long drive to work has become a way of life.

Lytwyn used to live in Winnipeg and drive 60 minutes to Valeant in Steinbach every day. This lasted about ten years but he says he was part of a carpool that sometimes had up to four members, which minimized the impact on his vehicle and also helped save money on gas.

He then got a job in Winnipeg, which shaved his commute time in half. Lytwyn says what he noticed was that he no longer had to rush home at the end of the work day. Gone were the days of quickly sitting down for a bite at supper, racing through washing dishes and then getting on with whatever he had planned for the evening.

But then last year, Lytwyn's life changed again when they opened Booster Juice in Steinbach. At first, he and his wife considered the idea of continuing to live in Winnipeg and having one of them commute to Steinbach each day. That idea lasted just two weeks. Lytwyn says they needed to be closer to the store and after falling in love with Steinbach, he notes it was an easy decision to move to the Automobile City.

But that move would more than double Lytwyn's commute time. Because he was also dropping off his daughter in Winnipeg, Lytwyn spent ninety minutes on the road at the start of the day and another ninety minutes at the end. Today his daughter attends school in Steinbach and now his total commute time in a day is about two and a half hours.

According to Lytwyn, the worst part of his commute is the realization that he is spending so much of the day in a car. In fact, about ten percent of his day is spent driving.

"I would like to be with my daughter or with my wife or doing something else," he says. "Seems a little bit of lost time."

Lytwyn says over the years he has driven through almost every type of weather. He recalls the time he drove along a closed highway, and the time he navigated down the Perimeter Highway while it was storming so bad that he couldn't see the hood of his car. Then there was the time the highways were so icy and with the combined wind he had to keep his speed to under 20 km/h or he would risk being blown off the road.

But not everything about being a commuter is bad, says Lytwyn. For example, it gives him a chance to gear up in the morning and unwind in the evening.

"In the morning, I listen to the radio, I get caught up on the news, a little bit of time to yourself," he says. "After a day you can kind of reflect on the time you've spent at work but you're kind of coming home and when you get home you've kind of left work already."

And Lytwyn says he would gladly take his commute instead of what some of his co-workers trek through. He notes some of his co-workers who live in Winnipeg will spend 40 minutes driving 10 kilometres through the city.

Meanwhile, Census data also shows the seven o'clock hour is the most popular time of day for Steinbach commuters to leave for work. And about 83 percent of Steinbach residents use either a car, truck or van to drive to work each day, as opposed to other means such as public transit, walking or biking.

In 2016, 15.9 million Canadians commuted to work. 74 percent used either a car, truck or van to drive to work. The average commute to work last year took 26 minutes.