The math
What your commute costs
Here is what driving to work costs in fuel and parking from 27 places people actually commute from — with every assumption written down so you can substitute your own.
Prices checked October 8, 2026.
What this assumes
All of it. If you disagree with an input, you should find that out before you read the totals rather than after.
- Fuel price
- $1.75 per litre, regular unleaded, for every row on both sides of the river. Official averages are published weeks late — the latest, for August 2026, were $1.65 on the Ottawa side and $1.75 on the Gatineau side. Pump prices move week to week, so yours will differ.
- Fuel consumption
- 8.5 L per 100 km — a mid-size car in mixed driving. A larger vehicle or a winter month will be worse.
- Days in the office
- 4 days a week, which is about 17.3 commute days in an average month.
- Parking
- $195 a month. Downtown Ottawa monthly rates ran roughly $125 to $250, with the Centretown lots the federal towers sit among at the higher end.
- Distance
- One-way road distance from the centre of each place to Confederation Square, along the fastest route on OpenStreetMap's road network, rounded to the nearest kilometre. Your own route will differ by a few kilometres depending on which end of town you live in.
- Transit, for comparison
- $138.50 a month for an OC Transpo adult pass. On the Quebec side, an STO monthly pass is $116.50 and is also valid on OC Transpo.
One parking figure is used for every row, including those on the Quebec side, so the rows compare like with like. Parking on the Hull side generally runs lower, so if you work there, treat the totals as the conservative end. Fuel and parking are shown in separate columns precisely so you can drop in your own number and re-add.
27 origins
"Shared" is the same commute with one other person in the car — fuel and parking both halve, because two people need one parking space rather than two. Two people, not four: it is the commonest real carpool and the least flattering assumption available.
| From | One way | Fuel / mo | Parking / mo | Total / mo | Total / yr | Shared / mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 15 km | $77 | $195 | $272 | $3,267 | $136 |
| Orléans | 19 km | $98 | $195 | $293 | $3,515 | $146 |
| Riverside South | 19 km | $98 | $195 | $293 | $3,515 | $146 |
| Templeton (Gatineau) | 21 km | $108 | $195 | $303 | $3,638 | $152 |
| Barrhaven | 22 km | $113 | $195 | $308 | $3,700 | $154 |
| Findlay Creek | 23 km | $119 | $195 | $314 | $3,762 | $157 |
| Kanata | 24 km | $124 | $195 | $319 | $3,824 | $159 |
| Manotick | 28 km | $144 | $195 | $339 | $4,071 | $170 |
| Stittsville | 32 km | $165 | $195 | $360 | $4,319 | $180 |
| Wakefield | 34 km | $175 | $195 | $370 | $4,442 | $185 |
| Rockland | 38 km | $196 | $195 | $391 | $4,690 | $195 |
| Buckingham (Gatineau) | 38 km | $196 | $195 | $391 | $4,690 | $195 |
| Russell | 40 km | $206 | $195 | $401 | $4,813 | $201 |
| Embrun | 42 km | $216 | $195 | $411 | $4,937 | $206 |
| Almonte | 53 km | $273 | $195 | $468 | $5,617 | $234 |
| Winchester | 54 km | $278 | $195 | $473 | $5,679 | $237 |
| Casselman | 56 km | $289 | $195 | $484 | $5,803 | $242 |
| Low | 58 km | $299 | $195 | $494 | $5,926 | $247 |
| Kemptville | 59 km | $304 | $195 | $499 | $5,988 | $250 |
| Arnprior | 68 km | $350 | $195 | $545 | $6,545 | $273 |
| Smiths Falls | 78 km | $402 | $195 | $597 | $7,163 | $298 |
| Perth | 84 km | $433 | $195 | $628 | $7,534 | $314 |
| Val-des-Bois | 89 km | $459 | $195 | $654 | $7,843 | $327 |
| Cornwall | 102 km | $526 | $195 | $721 | $8,647 | $360 |
| Hawkesbury | 110 km | $567 | $195 | $762 | $9,142 | $381 |
| Brockville | 115 km | $593 | $195 | $788 | $9,451 | $394 |
| Maniwaki | 133 km | $685 | $195 | $880 | $10,564 | $440 |
Rows run from the shortest drive to the longest. Illustrative, not a quote. These are averages applied uniformly; they exclude insurance, maintenance, tires, depreciation and tolls, all of which make driving alone more expensive rather than less. Names in the first column link to that route's page where one exists.
Where the numbers come from
- Regular unleaded, monthly average, Ottawa-Gatineau (Ontario part) — Statistics Canada, table 18-10-0001 · 2026-08
- Regular gasoline, weekly average posted price, Outaouais region — Régie de l'énergie du Québec · 2026-08
- Downtown Ottawa monthly parking range — SpotAngels · 2026-09
- OC Transpo adult monthly pass, effective 1 January 2026 — OC Transpo; STO regular monthly pass — STO · 2026-09
- Road distances, fastest route to Confederation Square — OpenStreetMap road network, routed with OSRM · 2026-10
- Motor gasoline CO₂ emission factor (2,307 g/L) — Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Inventory Report, Annex 6 · 2024-05
- Four-day in-office requirement for core public administration, effective 6 July 2026 · 2026-07
If a figure here is out of date or wrong, write to support@ihopon.com and it will be corrected — this page is meant to be useful to people who will never sign up, and it is no use to anyone if it can't be trusted.
You don't need a crowd — just one other person
One other person in the car takes both of those columns down by half. iHopOn matches public servants and Crown corporation employees going the same way, each with a verified work email, free, with no addresses shared and no money changing hands.
An independent project, not affiliated with any employer. Built and paid for by one public servant, on their own time.