That's the perception but it's not based in reality.
Travel time via Google maps* at 2:30PM (as I write this) is:
- downtown to Sooke centre: 53 minutes, 40.5km
- downtown to Shawnigan lake: 48 minutes, 44.9km
- downtown to Mill Bay: 40 minutes, 42.4km
- downtown to Duncan centre: 56 minutes, 61.1km
At 5:30 Sooke will fare far worse due to congestion along Sooke Road (a second "crawl") and congestion within Langford. Currently travel to Sooke is 3 minutes shy of travel to Duncan, a full 20 kilometers further.
Peace, quiet, serenity, and a dollar that stretches much, much further are all available north of the Malahat. Come this year's census I predict we'll be seeing massive growth rates north of the Malahat as residents of metro Victoria flood those communities.
*Yates @ Douglas to the destination