Transportation in Sao paulo

Sao Paulo has three airports, which owns the biggest number of international connections of Brazil and South America. There are two main airports: the “Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport (GRU)”, which receives national and international flights and the “Congonhas Airport”, which manages only local flights. The third airport is the “Campo de Marte”, which is located at north of Downtown; nevertheless, this airport receives only private flights and helicopters.
These airports receives every year around 34.5 million people and it estimates that when the Guarulhos airport is remodeling by 2011, Sao Paulo will be able to receive 45 millions passengers per year. Besides, in Sao Paulo, there are many rich people, who have their own helicopters; therefore Sao Paulo has one of the largest air traffic in the world.

Another way to arrive to Sao Paulo is by bus. The “Rodoviaria Tiete” bus station is one of the largest bus stations in the World and receives buses from 565 different localities of Brazil and South America. The long distance bus service in Brazil is the cheapest way to travel.

The bus service in the city is very popular; there are many bus lines that cross the entire city; nevertheless the traffic in Sao Paulo is absolutely chaotic (there are 5 millions cars), therefore both buses and taxis are very slow. If you take a bus in Sao Paulo, you must pay to conductor at front of the bus. Another cheaper option is buy a bus card which allows you to travel for several routes. There are buses available from 4:00 to midnight.

Most tourists in Sao Paulo prefer taxis, mainly at night. You can get a taxi almost every where. Nevertheless, you must be careful, some taxi drivers could be robbers; it is advisable take a radio taxi; they are more expensive but also more safer. Usually, you must negotiate the tariff with taxi drivers. Tariffs increase after 21:00 as well as on Sunday and Holidays. Another option is rent a car, but you should know the city.

The metro is without doubt the best form of transportation in the Downtown. The city has 61 Km of underground railway systems, 4 lines and 55 stations. Besides, “Paulista Company of Metropolitan Trains” (CPTM ) handles another 253.2 Km of urban railways. The subway of Sao Paulo is very modern, safe, efficient and clean; it is amongst the best metro services in the World. The Sao Paulo’s metro has three main lines: the North-South line (line 1, blue), East-West line (line 3, red), and the one that just travels underneath the “Paulista” avenue (line 2, green), besides the 4 new expansion lines. The metro lines 1 and 3 are available from 6:00 to midnight and the line 2 from 6:00 to 22:00. You can buy tickets in every station for around $1.