The economic cost of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo’s transport failures

FIRJAN (the Industry Federation of the State of Rio de Janeiro) has just released data on the cost of traffic congestion in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. They estimate that together the two cities lost a staggering R$ 98 billion last year, the equivalent of 8% of the cities’ total GDP and 2% of Brazil’s GDP.

Traffic jams are part of daily life in São Paulo

This amount only takes into account lost work hours and doesn’t factor in the health impact of car fuel emissions on the general population or other indirect impacts on the economy. And yet even this conservative estimate is equivalent to the cost of building 200km of extra metro lines every single year!

In fact the amount lost yearly is bigger than the estimated budget for transport capital investment in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina combined. 

How the results will be interpreted, however, is another matter. The more congestion is seen as a problem, the more consideration is given to building extra lanes and highways thereby reinforcing the car culture. 

In a country where car ownership is increasing, local governments need to start thinking about long term solutions focused on encouraging the use of alternate transportation rather than accommodating additional cars which in turn will attract yet more vehicles onto the roads.

São Paulo to introduce women only metro carriages

 

You would have thought that in a civilised society it would not be necessary to have segregated transport. However, the high incidence of sexual harassment in crowded public areas has resulted in the São Paulo Legislative Assembly approving a bill making it mandatory for the CPTM and metro networks to include women only carriages at peak hours.

Following Rio de Janeiro who already introduced them in 2006 São Paulo will now have pink carriages. The bill will now be signed by Sao Paulo governor Geraldo Alckmin after which the metro and CPTM train operators will have 90 days to put the pink cars on the tracks.

In Rio the platforms have police enforcement officers to prevent men from, intentionally or unintentionally, boarding the wrong cars. Presumably, São Paulo will have a similar setup.

This type of harassment prevention scheme is already in place in many countries known to have a sexist culture with high harassment rates including Japan, Egypt, India, Iran, Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Dubai and of course Brazil.

In Sao Paulo as elsewhere it will provide an instant solution to those who suffer public harassment on public transport, which is clearly a good thing but presumably will not do much to educate and change the culture that makes the law necessary in the first place.

São Paulo in Statistics: How people move around

Just as a city's geography defines its transport needs, a city's transport network defines its future spatial layout and urban development. In other words it is both, a response to, and a driver of growth.

In the same way, the development of private transport is both caused and inhibited by the availability and quality of alternative public systems. 

Old world mega cities such as London and New York have extensive metro networks, essentially because they started earlier and have had a head start in terms of wealth. 

São Paulo, however, is much more similar to Mexico city. It trails far behind Mexico in terms of track kilometres built but the seemingly never-ending sprawl that caracterise both cities means that the car is king.

Below are some interesting infographics from the same dataset (LSE cities) we used last month to look at where people live in São Paulo. This time they offer an insight into how people move around in each city.

You can clearly see the difference between Hong Kong, Mumbai or Istanbul, cities which have cheap, efficient and accessible public transport and São Paulo or Johannesburg which have heavily strained public infrastructure failing to adequately connect people from where they want to go to where they live and vice versa.

Shanghai is investing heavily in metro and rail transport but in the meantime the humble bicycle is alleviating congestion on larger transportation systems.

Huge potential for metro and train growth

A very compact city means a lot of walking

Despite the sealink most people stay on one side or the other

Informal minibus dependency

Still has high car usage despite congestion charge

Colonial era train network is still main transport method

The city with the most bicycle journeys

VIDEO: São Paulo's GRU Airport Terminal 3 is open for business

Well we`ve all been bitching for a long time about the state of Guarulhos airport; the cement, the overcrowding the decor that would have looked old fashioned in even in the seventies.

And there`s also been an awful lot of criticism of world cup projects being badly delayed and not being ready on time.

Let us celebrate, then, that GRU Terminal 3 is open, with a full 32 days to spare, and received it`s first flight today.

Below is a timelapse video of the 18months it took to build the terminal:

ps. Don't ask me about Viracopos!

Classic São Paulo police cars from times gone by

In São Paulo you are never far from the wail of a police siren or the sight of a police vehicle. Patrol cars are part of the urban wallpaper but whilst they have always been highly visible they’ve changed a lot over the years.

Here’s a look back at some of the most famous (and infamous) police cars of recent history.

1976

The bright orange and black colours seen here on a 1976 Corcel is synonymous with dictatorship era policing. Older Brazilians will remember this vividly.

1986

The Fusca, popularly known as the “Baratinha” or little cockroach, is possibly the best known police car of all times. It was used widely across the city of São Paulo from the 60s right through to the 80s  and was an instantly recognisable design classic. The 1986 model was one of the latest editions and already ran on ethanol fuel, an innovative feature  at the time.

1988

The Veraneio is probably the police vehicle most associated with the dictatorship era. Used by the Rota, the special forces of the São Paulo Military Police. During the repression era, the 5 metre long, 2 tonne truck was often deployed with no colours or outward symbols although few civilians were under any illusions as to what the 4 plain clothes men inside were really up to.

Opala

Another iconic car was the Chevrolet Opala, seen on the streets of São Paulo in the late 80s.

1998

In more modern times the Ipanema 1.8 or 2.0 litre station wagon was widely used.

For anyone interested you can see these cars and more at the Military Police Musem in São Paulo.

The tender nobody wants to touch: Why the Rio to São Paulo bullet train still isn’t built

What the train could look like (if it were built..)

Talk about a rail link between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo is not new. And it’s not hard to see why people get excited about it. São Paulo– Rio de Janeiro is the busiest air route in the world with 1,130 commercial flights a week.

No two airports in the world has more aircraft movements and part of the reason is the lack of adequate alternatives. Taking a bus takes 6-7 hours if you are lucky enough to avoid heavy traffic and there is no train service, nevermind a bullet train.

Why then is not built already? The answer is not so much in the politic will, Dilma Rousseff actually went as far as promising it would be built in time for the 2014 world cup which is obviously not going to happen. The fact the project has vanished into thin air means she has actually been accused by some of using it only as an election tool.

The other reasons lie in cost, expertise and corruption. The cost of operating the line would be R$35.6bn (US$15.2bn) and the tender was already  launched back in 2010. The problem turned out to be that no capable company was interested in bidding for it. The submission date was moved from April 29^th to July 29^th 2011 in an effort to attract more companies but again not a single company showed any interest.

An infographic of the tender process

To attract more bids, it was decided the total cost would be split into two separate areas, operability and construction, which could receive individual bids. One tender would be for the actual construction and infrastructure project and the other for the operational and technological running of the line.

The phase 1 tender (construction) was set for December 2012 and again not a single construction company in the world found it attractive.

Alstom, the only bidder, is marred in accustions of corruption 

Finally in August last year Alstom, a company involved in other transport projects in Brazil (such as the metro in São Paulo), participated in the tender. However hopes were immediately dashed due to separate allegations of cartel forming. Until the investigation against Alstom has been resolved, there will presumably not be any further bids and therefore no further advancement in the much talked about Rio-São Paulo bullet train link.

Transport minister César Borges puts it the following deliberately vague way that only politicians truly manage: “In 2014, I do not expect a tender launch until after the October election. Otherwise, it should occur the following year,"

In Brazil there’s always tomorrow, if indeed the intention to build the bullet train is actually genuine..

VIDEO: Cars swept away by heavy rains in São Paulo

Anyone living in São Paulo will have noticed the sudden downpour of rain yesterday afternoon. Hopefully none of you were unlucky enough to park their cars in the Vila Madalena district.

Check out the video below of what happened to some cars that did.

Video of the rains on Rua Harmonia:

The moral of the story, park at the top of the hill next time! ;)

VIDEO: Bicycles in São Paulo

Here's a cute little animation called Bicicletas em São Paulo or Bicycles in São Paulo.

It's a pro-bike, utopic and slightly political statement on traffic in São Paulo. It's also very neatly produced.

 Hope you like it!

BICICLETAS EM SÃO PAULO (Bicycles in São Paulo) from Céu D´Ellia on Vimeo.

Get to know São Paulo's New Airport

It didn't get much news coverage but São Paulo's third airport (fourth if you include Viracopos, Campinas) has been approved by the central government. Here's what we know so far:

• It's going to be an international airport unlike Congonhas which has had the city grow around it and is no longer considered suitable for larger planes.

• It will be located in the city of Caieiras. Here's the Google Maps link if you don't know where that is. 

• Now you've looked up Caeieiras we can agree that it will be a pain to get to and will likely have no train or metro link until long after Guarulhos finally does.

• It will apparently be christened with the following outlandish and overtly Brazilian name: New Airport São Paulo

• Total number of runways: 2, both 3,5km long

• Size of passenger terminal: 340,000 sq m

• Size of cargo terminal: 70,000 sq m

• Expected yearly capacity: 48million passaengers per year (for reference Guarulhos is 34 million)

• Total cost: 5.3bn reais (US$2.25bn). Ouch.

But before you get excited, you should note that as yet no date has been fixed for its finalisation and, given that in Brazil even when a date is fixed it is an almost certainty that it will move a few years down the line, please don't hold your breath.

Or, as the President herself eloquently put it ""We will resolve the issue of having three airports in São Paulo. ​It will take place soon but I don't know the exact date,"

São Paulo's monorail in testing and ready to launch within 2 months

Testing São Paulo’s new monorail

Progress is often made in small steps and such is the case of São Paulo's Line 15 (Silver). Last week the first tests were made on the new monorail line, the first stretch of which is due to open in March 2014 and which will eventually run 27km across the city.

In true São Paulo style, it lacks no ambition. It will have taken quite some time to build but will still be the world's largest monorail and if that isn't enough it will also carry the highest number of passengers of any monorail system, shifting almost 50,000 people in each direction every single hour. 

Here are some more facts on the Silver line:

Number of operational trains planned: 54

Number of stations: 18 

Planned full system opening date: 2015.

Total construction cost: $6.4 billion 

São Paulo attempts dual tunnelling a metro line for the first time

Tatuzão and Megatatuzão side by side

As of this week the extension to the Line 5 metro line is being worked on by two giant Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) instead of one. This is the first time ever São Paulo, or Brazil, has ever attempted dual tunnelling on a single metro line.

The extension, which runs from Campo Belo to Chácara Klabin station in Vila Mariana and costs R $7.5 billion, will add another 12km of track and 11 new stations.

However don’t expect it to be open any time soon. The new TBM humourously known as Tatuzão and it’s partner in crime Megatatuzão will only dig at a rate 15metres per day. That means the 1.9 km tunnel between LargoTreze, and the first of the new stations, Adolfo Pinheiro, is expected to be completed only by January next year.

So we can wait a while for the extended Lilac Line 5 to connect with the Blue Line 1 and Green Line 2 . Still, progress is progress.

An insight into low rider culture in Brazil

Riding the streets of São Paulo

Ethnicity and identity are fluid concepts. Much more fluid than you might think and with a reach that goes beyond borders.

Even though the Latin American interpretation would be more indigenous, think Cholo and, if you´re from the US, you will conjure up ideas of baggy khaki shorts, white wife-beaters and tattoos with Catholic imagery all rolled up in a Latino gangster or pseudo-gangster look. Now, not all Cholos are low riders but more importantly when you think of low riders you think Mexican in LA, you certainly don’t think Brazilian living in São Paulo. But subcultures sometimes move fast and move far and, believe it or not, in São Paulo there is a small but growing group of self-styled Brazilian cholos on oversize handlebar bikes or custom-made low-riders.

More fascinating still, is that the subculture has not leaked down the continent, as you might expect, from Mexican-Americans to Portuguese speaking latinos, it went via Japan. The current street culture in São Paulo can be traced back to Japanese immigrants in the 1990s who came to join the already huge Japanese community in São Paulo and introduced low rider culture.

Car-hopping in São Paulo

South American Cholo is a documentary that takes a look at São Paulo's low rider culture and in it Sergio Hideo Yoshinaga, 43, the owner of a garage in São Paulo where many retro cars are turned into low rider monsters, explains how he was one of the Japanese pioneers of the movement admiring the aesthetics of the Japanese low rider offshoots and taking the concept to São Paulo. The Brazilian interpretation is just that, an interpretation, adapted to São Paulo, not just an imitation of Mexican-American street culture. As such it provides insights about how fashion spreads, the meaning of identity for both the low rider himself and for São Paulo, his city.

Here is the trailer to the documentary:

The film will be released in two versions: English and Portuguese

Where there is a problem there is always a (Brazilian) solution...

Anyone who has tried to catch a bus in São Paulo and had the misfortune of not consulting Google Maps before embarking on their journey will know that it is near on impossible task to get any intelligible information on routes, numbers or bus times at a São Paulo bus stop. Mostly they are just metal poles cemented to the pavement which serve to flag the existence of a bus stop but not much else.

Such is the lack of readily-accessible public information around São Paulo bus routes and numbers that a grass roots movements has sprung up to take over what should otherwise be the local city council’s responsibility. “Que ônibus passa aqui” offers downloadable templates from its Facebook fanpage for you to print and paste onto your local bus stop and write up which buses pass by. Here are some pictures of local interventions:

I doubt this is the solution but it may serve as a wake up call to the local administration to label up public transport in time for the World Cup in 2014.

The fact it's happening at all is an interesting reflection on both Brazilian openness to innovation and local political ambivalence towards basic public infrastructure.

How to get away with drink driving Brazilian style

A man takes a breathalyser test as part of the Lei Seca

Anyone who has been in Brazil for more than 5 minutes knows that Brazilians love to find a way to get around a law or a regulation. Back home you might get looked down on for questionable morals but here finding a “jeitinho” is a matter of pride and admiration. São Paulo is no exception and despite being one of the toughest states in clamping down on drink driving, there have been many interesting attempts to get round it.

The obvious one which recently became a more expensive tactic is not to avoid the speed trap or “blitz” as they are known locally but to refuse to take the breathalyzer. The police itself admits they cannot force somebody to effectively testify against themselves and if they don’t have proof of excessive alcohol consumption they are unable to impose prison sanctions. Instead an administrative non-cooperation fine is applied. The toughening up of the Lei Seca (literally the Dry Law) which governs and aims to eradicate drink driving means this strategy is now more expensive and the fine reaches up to R$ 1915,30 (almost 1,000 dollars) rising to twice that if the offence is repeated.

The cheaper and more famous work around is the Twitter account which tweets in real time where a police blitz is. It’s actually a double work around as the account itself doesn’t flag the speed traps, in fact it will claim that it is morally against opposed to it but they will allow other users to tweet speedtrap locations at them. Most major Brazilian cities now have Lei Seca Twitter accounts, the São Paulo one has a self description which reads as “online traffic information about accidents, floodings etc. Don’t drink and drive! Don’t let selective morality beat you.” Quite amusing for a Twitter account with a hashtag which reads LeiSecaSP . The government last year tried to ban these accounts from Twitter but to no avail.

Metadoxil, the supposed breathalyser-proof drug

For those too drunk even to tweet as they drive, a third tactic emerged over the last few weeks. A seemingly simple solution began to appear on social media and soon videos began to appear on youtube claiming that if you take a non-prescription pill called metadoxil you would pass the breathalyzer test even if under the effects of alcohol.  Pharmacy sales of Metadoxil boomed in the pre-carnival period and it is still hard to get hold of in many pharmacies due to demand outstripping supply. Alas, it transpires that it has no effect on alcohol levels in your body nor of your ability to avoid being detected and has little more than placebo value. Placebos however, work only on susceptible minds not on breathalyzers.

The search for the perfect jeitinho continues..

Why São Paulo – Rio de Janeiro is the busiest air route in the world

The acronym CGH-SDU is probably familiar to most readers of Discovering São Paulo. Many of us have boarded a plane at Congonhas airport (CGH) and chosen Santos Dumont airport (SDU) as our destination, our carioca neighbours doing the same in reverse. In fact, as surprising as it sounds, with 1,130 commercial flights a week there are no two airports in the world with more aircraft movements, the next closest pair being Melbourne and Sydney with 950 weekly flights.

Excluding connection flights if we look at the busiest routes not by plane numbers but by passenger volume (see above) CGH-SDU is knocked off top place by the Seoul-Jeju pairing, Jeju being a small island close to the South Korean capital. But even if the inefficiency of the route means it has proportionally more planes to passengers than other global connections CGH-CDU is still in second place far ahead of Beijing-Shanghai, Cape Town-Johannesburg or Madrid-Barcelona. So what is the reason for such a busy route.

Rios-São Paulo is the second most busy commercial route by passenger volume

The answer lies in multiple factors. The plurality of carriers covering the route is key. In the case of Congonhas to Santos Dumont both high volume low cost carriers such as Gol, the recently taken over Webjet and Avianca run the route as well as the more traditional TAM Airlines. A quick look at the ranking  also shows that most pairings with high volumes are major urban areas in close proximity to each other (short haul flights are more common than long haul ones meaning volume is higher). Another factor is the relative importance of the cities which the airport connects. São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro being the top 2 GDP contributing Brazilian cities making the journey a key business route.

Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo fit all of the above conditions but in addition the local lie of the land and vehicular infrastructure is such that choosing not to fly is complicated; there are no train links and it is 6 hours by car which can take much longer if the weather is poor, the traffic is dense or it is holiday season. This makes the complications of reaching the destination by other means comparable to that of the many island desinations in the ranking (Tokyo, Jeju, Jakarta)

The relatively poorly located and difficulty of reaching alternative airports such as São Paulo’s larger but more isolated Guarulhos/Cumbica or the Tom Jobim/Galeão in Rio also drives airlines and passengers alike to concentrate on “in-city” airports so whilst it is always a “feel good” to head up rankings it is as much driven by poor infrastructure as the importance of the cities themselves.

Food for thought next time you catch a CGH to SDU!

São Paulo in Statistics: The city's top 11 problems according to its voters

According to Datafolha and looking ahead to the local elections, São Paulo's voters have named the top issues they perceive the city is facing. The biggest problems identified in order of importance are:

Health 26%

Security 16%

Public Transport 15%

Flooding 6%

Education 6%
Transport 6%

Waste / litter  5%
Pavements 3%
Drug trafficking 2%
Housing 2%

Unemployment 2%

This does away with the stereotype that drug trafficking are a major concern for São Paulo residents, in fact the state of the pavements are perceived to be a bigger problem.

Personally I was surprised to see flooding so high up but it is true that the city is badly prepared for the downfalls it receives and for those whose streets are regularly affected it presumably bounces straight to number one priority.

Also interesting for European (or North American) eyes is the fact that unemployment only just scrapes in to the list of problems. If the same survey was carried out in Italy, Spain, Greece or Portugal it would be interesting to compare the percentages..

VIDEO: Julian Moura-Busquet's The Biggest City in Brazil

  

Whilst clearly being a personal vision of São Paulo reflecting his own unique experiences,  Julian Moura-Busquet's video, The Biggest City in Brazil, manages to capture some of the day day Sampa moments that anyone who lives or has lived in São Paulo will connect to. They are hard to describe textually and perhaps best left to images or video. As Julian, says, "São Paulo is an incredibly diverse concrete jungle. It is a very interesting place but I think one has to live here to understand it"

Most people would agree with that caveat and perhaps we can go further and say that even if you live here it is quite acceptable, given its immensity and diversity not to completely understand it. Therein lies the essence and fun of living in São Paulo.

His video below is categorised thematically but this doesn't stop it portraying the chaotic and diverse feel of the city. It is also interesting to see the categories he has chosen, (the city's relationship with football, how the streets double up as urban canvas, the heaving transport, etc) from a potentially endless choice:

The Biggest City in Brazil. What Comes to Mind? from Julian Moura-Busquets on Vimeo.

What São Paulo's metro will look like in 2030

São Paulo's metro network in 2012

Despite the size and importance of the city São Paulo has one of the youngest metros in the world, line 1 having been constructed only in 1968, with the other 4 following afterwards. It is regarded as modern by regional standards and is complemented by over 250km of suburban rail estension (CPTM) some stations of which allow transfer to the main metró network.

Nevertheless the system is simply not extensive enough for the population it aims to serve and witnesses notoriously busy rush hours so it's no surprise to hear speculation over which new lines or stations are needed and what is planned for the future.

Less common, however, is to receive an insight into what transport improvements are truly planned by local authorities. Below is São Paulo government's alleged projection of what the network should look like by 2030.

Vision of São Paulo's metro and rail network in 2030

As you can observe that's an awful lot of lines yet to be built and, as anyone familiar with timings on Brazilian projects will know, all we have to do now is wait (and hope)..

Seen on the streets of São Paulo: surfing the summer floods in Vila Madalena

Sometimes surfing is the only way to travel in São Paulo ;)

I should say upfront that I can't certify the authenticity of this photo but having witnessed the torential rainfall a couple of afternoons ago and knowing the hilly terrain of Vila Madalena I can quite believe that this is a genuine photo!

The alley above is called the "Beco de Batman" or simply "O Beco" and is a grafitti filed alleyway near Inacio Pereira Rocha and Fradique Countinho streets. The area is very hilly and when it rains hard, temporary urban rivers are formed.

Relative distances of Brazilian state capitals from São Paulo

When friends visit they often have to curtail their travel plans when they realise the sheer size of Brazil and the fact that São Paulo is not actually in the centre of the country or anywhere near it.

Below is the distance in kilometres of each state capital from São Paulo. These are only the capital cities so obviously there are places within the boundaries of the country which are even more remote but nevertheless it gives you an appreciation of how much we São Paulo dwellers depend on increasingly costly air travel: