Descrição

São Paulo is the wealthiest city in Latin America and has long lived under a car-oriented

policy, thus worsening other transport infrastructure and keeping people from shifting to more

sustainable modes of transportation. This has led the city to reach almost 300 km of daily

congestions, and the congestion to be rated as bad or terrible by 80% of the population (IBOPE,

2012). Despite that scenario, the Origin-Destiny survey, carried out by the subway company in

2007, shows that the share of daily trips with bicycles has nearly doubled in one decade (1997-

2007). This indicates that people are reaching out for new ways to commute, even when deprived

from infrastructure.

The local transit authority indicates that in 2012 São Paulo had approximately 200 km of

cycling infrastructure, which corresponds to less than 1.5% of the total extent of the city’s roads.

Even though, almost 30% are weekends-only, intended for leisure, done with the support of a

major traffic operation and funded by a financial institution. Additionally, although most of the

daily trips with bicycles are undertaken by lower income population, the scarce cycling

infrastructure is located mainly on wealthier neighbourhoods, increasing the social and spatial

segregation.

This paper is a critique of this unique leisure-oriented model of cycling infrastructure. To do

so, it provides an overview of the history of cycling in São Paulo, of how the model was created,

of its management and its characteristics, until the end of the later administration (2012). This

paper shows that this leisure-oriented model, among several consequences, has not only failed to

attend de mobility demands of the population, being used as a pretense solution for the lack of

cycling infrastructure. It also demonstrates some of its impacts on the mobility culture of São

Paulo and examples of its exportation throughout Brazil.