PORT TOWNSEND — It is 5 a.m. and still dark when Carla Meyer arrives for work at Jefferson Transit.
After checking the schedule, she heads out to the lot, checks the oil in one of the diesel buses, climbs aboard and starts the engine.
One by one, the drivers arrive and board their vehicles.
But while they start out on their early-morning routes, Meyer returns to the building on Sims Way and climbs the steps to her office overlooking the shop floor.
Meyer is the new maintenance supervisor for Jefferson Transit.
She’s in charge of keeping its fleet of 22 buses and 11 vans rolling.
She is one of only a few female transit maintenance supervisors in the state, according to Joy Rogers of the Washington State Transit Authority.
“I’m definitely in the front wave,” Meyer said.
Meyer, a fourth-generation Port Townsendite and a 1975 graduate of Port Townsend High School, now lives in Port Hadlock with her three children: Caleb, 18, Luke, 16, and Leah, 11.
When she first started working for Jefferson Transit as a driver in 1995, they sometimes had to ride the bus with her until she finished her shift.
Now, she works more regular hours, arriving early to start the buses only when one of her employees has a day off.
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The rest of the story appears in the Thursday Peninsula Daily News. Click on SUBSCRIBE to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.
