Sovabazar, 90 minutes. EM Bypass, 45 minutes. Taratala, 75 minutes.

The wait for buses on Calcutta roads is a test of patience for people who have started stepping out of their homes in search of livelihood. Even if a bus does come after a long wait, there is every chance a passenger will not get a place on it, because of the social distancing norms.

Sekhar Sarkar, who lives in Sovabazar, supplies print cartridges and paper for a living. He stepped out on Friday to go to an office in Bhowanipore to collect dues for an earlier order. “I waited for one-and-a-half hours at Sovabazar. I saw only two buses, neither headed in my direction,” said the 58-year-old.

Eventually, a private vehicle dropped him on Elgin Road for Rs 120.

Since May 13, the West Bengal Transport Corporation has been running around 400 buses on 13 routes. This was in addition to around 100 buses that were pressed into service since end-March to ferry staff on emergency duty.

With most of the city holed up indoors during the lockdown, the scarcity of public transport had not been felt. But with some curbs lifted, people have been stepping out over the past few days and the lack of buses is taking a toll on them.

Bapi Saha, a Garia resident who runs a grocery store off Hindusthan Road, stood at the Gariahat crossing for close to two hours on Thursday evening, waiting for a bus home.

He saw two Garia-bound buses pass by with only a few passengers and waved to both to stop. The first bus did not stop. The second bus did, because the signal had turned red. Relieved, Saha tried to board the bus, only to be told off by the conductor. “Aar lok newa jabe na. Social distance maante hobe (We cannot take any more passengers. You have to maintain social distance),” he told Saha.

Buses are barred from carrying more than 20 passengers, according to government guidelines.

But several people alleged that buses with less than the prescribed number of passengers were also not stopping at designated halts.

“I stood at the Taratala crossing for close to one-and-a a-half hours on Thursday evening, waiting for a bus to Joka. A bus did come but the driver did not stop the vehicle. There were only a handful of passengers inside. The number could not have been more than 15,” said an employee of a pharmacy in Thakurpukur, who had gone to a distributor’s office in New Alipore.

The drivers and conductors of state buses are government employees and their wages are not linked to ticket sales.

A senior official of the West Bengal Transport Corporation said there would be more buses on the road from Monday. “There has been a 20 per cent rise in demand and, accordingly, the frequency is being increased,” he said.

Another official said running buses with just 20 passengers will always remain a challenge because an increasing number would want to commute. “Once private bus operators join, things can probably look up. But just a bit,” he said.

Additional reporting by Kinsuk Basu