Vancouver drivers aren’t loving their daily commute

Vancouver drivers are feeling anxious when they have to hit the road, even if their drive times are short.

The analysis comes from a new study by SiriusXM, which surveyed Canadian drivers to discover how their experiences are changing on the road, differences across regions, and how audio plays a role in the journey.

According to the company, 37 per cent of Canadians report that their time on the road has worsened over the past year.

“The way we work has changed, and so has the way we commute,” said Canadian recruiter and career expert Emily Durham in a release.

“Being in the car isn’t just about getting to and from the office anymore.”

According to the SiriusXM study, only 11 per cent of Vancouver drivers are driving for an hour or more.

However, 46 per cent of local drivers describe their commute as stressful.

This aligns with a report released in late 2025, where Vancouver was declared one of the worst cities in the world for traffic, and the third-worst in Canada, in a report focused on the congestion drivers face.

The analysis comes from the INRIX 2025 Global Traffic Scorecard.

INRIX is a global tech firm specializing in real-time traffic data, analytics and vehicle services. It features over 900 cities from around the world on its scorecard.

The report “provides travel delay comparisons, costs of congestion to drivers and regions, and commuting trends based on the unique travel patterns within each metro area.”

Vancouver ranked 79th worst in the world, just behind Dubai, with INRIX data showing that 46 hours were lost in congestion in 2025.

While driving can be a stressful time for Metro Vancouver commuters, stats from a BC Highway Patrol (BCHP) enforcement campaign this spring show that distracted driving in Metro Vancouver was getting worse.

The traffic-focused BC RCMP division marked Occupant Restraint and Distracted Driving Month with an enforcement campaign across the province in March.

While the number of tickets written by BCHP during the campaign dropped slightly compared to the previous year, Metro Vancouver saw the worst increase in distracted driving in all of B.C.

Metro Vancouver drivers saw the largest increase in distracted drivers, up to 822 tickets in 2026 compared to 603 in 2025. That is a jump of nearly 31 per cent.

“Distracted driving is still one of the top three things that can kill you on BC roads, along with speed and impairment, and seatbelts are just such an easy way to save lives in collisions,” said Corporal Michael McLaughlin with BC Highway Patrol in a release.

“As long as they continue to be problems, we will continue to educate through enforcement.”