Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Bus pass in hand, Sandra Mumm boards from the Martin Way transit stop for her ride to her job in Tacoma.

Life in the fast lane starts early

More people in Lacey are commuting to their jobs elsewhere

Orginally published August 15, 2001

The street lights go out just moments before the bus arrives at the Martin Way Park & Ride lot. Traffic on the freeway begins to build about 6 a.m., but for now, it's still pretty quiet.

Sandra Mumm and Mary Monahan both work in Tacoma and ride the 6:30 a.m. Intercity Transit bus to work. They spend the 50-minute ride talking or reading.

Others meet carpool rides at the lot. Chris Whaley gets up at 5:45 to meet a friend he rides with to Steilacoom, where he works as a union electrician.

Mumm, Monahan and Whaley are among the many Lacey residents who live here and work outside the county.

The most recent data show that more than one in five of Thurston County's 102,000 workers commute out of the county to their jobs, says Steve Kirkman, of the city's public affairs office. Most are headed to Pierce County, though some will be headed to King County as well.

But Census data due out in the next year is likely to show that the percentage of Lacey residents traveling elsewhere to work is growing.

Most mornings the bus is nearly full, Mumm says. But that doesn't mean commuting is a great option, she says.

She won't return for almost 12 hours, and that adds up to a long day.

"I wish I could work in Olympia," she says.

But she couldn't find a job locally that paid what she has been making as a quality assurance specialist at a Tacoma company that makes dialysis machines.

She's been there two years, she says.

So she spends nearly two hours a day on the bus. The ride is long, but it's better than driving, she says. Plus, her company pays most of the cost of her daily bus fare.

The ride is shorter than when she lived in Federal Way and worked in Bellevue. Then, her daily commute was an hour and 15 minutes -- on a good day.

Mumm likes her job, and she likes where she lives. So for now she will continue commuting to Tacoma.

She's not even thinking about moving from Lacey, which reminds her of the Spokane area, where she raised four kids.

"I love Lacey," Mumm says.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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