I'm going to be a lone voice here I think. But FWIW, here is my opinion. My boys have 2 days a week in Day care and 3 days a week MIL and FIL come here to mind them. I personally like the balance, as I think they get a lot out of day care, and they really love it. Personally I find it easier to leave them on day care days. I think 2 days each way could work well for you too.

Given the difficulty with timings for you though, I don't think a centre near you will work well. Have you looked into centres near work? When I went back to work after J, he was in day care in the CBD near where DH and I worked. I loved that he was so close, and we got all that extra time together with the trip in and home, and I also went and bf/played with him every lunch time until he moved rooms and slept at lunchtime. It was always great to know that we didn't have to rush to pick him up too. If one of us was running late, the other one went down to pick him up and if need be took him back to work to wait for the other parent (we were lucky we worked in the same building). Anyway, just some food for thought.