A long line of vehicles had formed in front of a traffic signal post at Esplanade on Monday afternoon. A passenger exclaimed “great”. The driver said “pehli baar (for the first time)”.

Not the usual chaos yet, but traffic in Calcutta resembled traffic in Calcutta for the first time since the lockdown was imposed 75 days ago to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Police said there was nearly a 40 per cent increase in traffic volume this Monday compared to Monday last week.

The passenger at Esplanade was excited that the roads were looking “somewhat like before”.

It wasn’t a happy sight for many others, though.

The number of private buses went up from around 700 to about 1,800. State transport department officials said about 1,600 government buses were on the roads, compared with the 1,000-odd last week.

But that was hardly enough, given the number of people on the roads. Even late on Monday evening, people were trying to squeeze into crowded buses because there was no other way to reach home.

A bus that was headed to Barrackpore from Esplanade shut its doors because it was packed. But still two men were seen hanging from the footboard.

“Private buses that were there in the morning disappeared by the evening. I had to wait for 40 minutes at Beleghata to board a bus,” said Soumya Banerjee, an equity firm employee whose office is in Salt Lake. “I don’t know how to continue like this for the rest of the week,” said the Patuli resident.

Every time a taxi drove in, a swarm of people chased it hoping for a seat. With so many people and so few transport options, distancing norms became a joke.

“What will we do?” a police officer at Gariahat said, pleading helplessness.

Private bus operators said they were still “testing the waters” to see if it was viable to run on old fares. “We hope by mid-week more commuters will be out on the streets,” said Rahul Chatterjee of the Bus Minibus Samanoy Samity. “We spoke to the transport minister today. Running full fleet for bus owners continues to be a challenge.”

Transport department officials said they would soon call a meeting with private bus operators. “A sense of fear is holding back many drivers and conductors. We will talk to the owners again and try to allay the fears,” said an official.

Close to 3,000 taxis were out on the roads on Monday, with state government offices opening with 70 per cent staff and many corporate offices logging in for the first time in nearly two-and-a-half months.

Till the end of last week, only 800-odd yellow cabs had hit the roads. But cabbies were asking for astronomical sums or showing more interest in running shuttle services.

“From Bypass, near Peerless Hospital, to Bosepukur, a taxi driver demanded Rs 500,” said Madhuri Basu, an employee of a private firm.

Vehicles had to crawl on several arteries including Central Avenue, Beleghata Main Road, NSC Bose Road, AJC Bose Road and Diamond Harbour Road during rush hours.

Across several parts of Calcutta, including Ranikuthi, Garia, Behala, Ballygunge, Beleghata and Ultadanga, autos ran with three passengers, all seated on the rear seat.

“I drove to office in my car. Public transport can’t be relied upon,” said Shyamal Jana, a senior scientist of a biotechnology company at Sector V.