The State of Daycare

What is it with the state of daycare? At least in my part of the country. For one thing they are open limited hours so that if you work a regular 40 hour week it is very difficult to get there in time to pick your child up after work, and heaven forbid if your boss needs you to do overtime, or if you work nontraditional hours.
The biggest puzzle to me is how often they are closed. In our county most daycares are closed EVERY time that the public schools are closed. Holidays, snow days, vacations, parent-teacher conference, etc. Just at the time when the need for daycare swells, most of the daycares close, and most employers will not let you bring your child to work with you, often for good reasons.
Now how many people can take off that much time from work? Even if you used all your sick, optional and vacation days? Not to mention that you would then not have the days to use if you or your child are sick.
This has become a major problem for my children since Gandma and Grampa don't live in the same town anymore. The kids try to swap off as much as they can but that puts a strain on the one who works nights, as she can nap when her own child is home but not when both kids are there.
The schools have after school programs but not enough to cover all the children who need them, and that does not help with the days school is closed.
Are there communities out there who have solved this problem? I'd like to hear about them