For 30-year-old legal librarian Heidi Ratteray the daily commute is a solitary time-wasting grind which leaves her frustrated before she has started work.

The drive from Granaway Heights, Southampton, takes around an hour on a good day ? and much more on a rainy one.

She has being doing the same commute for more than a decade and has seen the problem get worse.

?It?s awful, it?s terrible,? she said. ?It?s travelling at a molasses slow pace.?

She spends seven hours a week stuck in her car burning up gas.

Heidi leaves at eight a.m. to be at work just before nine.

?If it is raining just forget it,? she said. ?It takes another 20 minutes. If there is an accident, you are stuck there for who knows how long.

?It doesn?t really matter whether I take Harbour Road, Middle Road or South Shore Road. It?s all the same.

?It really starts the day off in a bad way. There?s nothing I can do I am stuck in traffic in my car all by myself unless I whip out my cell phone and talk to someone but I am not supposed to do that. I can fiddle with the music.?

The commute is hot as well as bothersome in the summer. ?I don?t use the A/C because it eats up too much gas,? she said.

That costs her up to $56 every ten days or so while parking costs her $86 a month ? more than enough to get her a three-month ferry pass, even before car maintenance, tax and insurance costs are taken into consideration.

Heidi would like to take the ferry but she sometimes has to work late or do something else after work so she wants to be away as soon as she can rather than waiting for a ferry.

Flexitime would cut her journey by half she says ? if she needed to start at 9.10 a.m. she could leave at 8.40 a.m. and still arrive on time.

?When I do house-sits in the East it?s such a difference coming into town,? she said. ?You just sail right through.?

However, on normal days she admits she lingers after five to avoid the evening rush hour and then battles through town before the traffic eases up.

But on the occasions she has tried the ferry on the way home she has loved it. If the ferry was cheaper and went at more flexible times she would definitely consider switching.

?I would save on gas and help ease the traffic problem ? even if didn?t make a difference in the traffic, at least I wouldn?t be caught up in it,? she said.