Jessica Kotek has back-to-back classes on the third floor, but is persistently late.

The problem? Her classes are on different campuses.

At 10:50 a.m., Kotek has exactly 30 minutes to leave the Quad, wait in a bus line, ride to St. Ben’s and walk across campus to the Main for her 11:20 class. Long bus lines have made punctuality nearly impossible.

“I was waiting in line at SJU for 15 minutes the day it was -40 degrees, and was appalled by how long the Link took to get to Sexton,” Kotek said in an e-mail.

Other students have similar complaints.

“At St. John’s after 9:40s, the line is backed to the Music Building … It gets a little crazy,” sophomore Melissa Kieger said.

After analyzing the numbers, it is not surprising to see that lines are longest after 9:40 and 11:20 classes.

The Banner Web Self Service schedule shows that, on odd days this semester, approximately 1,780 students take 9:40 a.m. classes and about 1,720 taking 11:20 a.m. classes. Compare this to the 8 a.m. period, when only about 770 students are in class and the 2:40 p.m. period, when about 850 students are in class.

Transportation Director Michael Juntunen has felt the effects of these peaks.

“They laid out a lot of 9:40 classes — it’s really heavy,” he said. “The biggest key (to shortening bus lines) is to have tapered class schedules. That’s been brought to everyone’s attention,” Juntunen said.

Registrar Julie Gruska said 70 percent of classes are typically offered during 9:40, 11:20 a.m. and 1 p.m. periods.

Though the Registrar’s Office has worked with departments to spread out classes, students are resistant to 8 a.m. and 2:40 p.m. periods, Gruska said.

Despite this semester’s difficulties, Juntunen believes that the transportation department is getting back on track.

He has added more buses to the heaviest class runs and is tightening up the times between them, he said.”We made a lot of changes this year. … It’s starting to come together.”