3 ms·

That is not a car country. São Paulo has more car than population, and has so many cars that their area summed is bigger than the area of all streets in the ci

That is not a car country. São Paulo has more car than population, and has so many cars that their area summed is bigger than the area of all streets in the city. It is so many cars that sometimes walking 1 hour to your workplace is faster than a car route where you can spend 2, 3 hours to go to a neighborhood next to yours during rush hour. So many cars that the city became also the city with most helicopters, because as ludicrously expensive they are, for people that need to reach their workplace really fast (CEO, firemen, medics...) helicopters are good idea. Situation got so bad that the government wants to heavily restrict the use of helicopters because private helicopters were causing literally airborne traffic jams along the normal traffic jam, blocking public services like police from moving to emergency sites. EDIT: indeed I was talking about adults, forgot to make it clear. Still the percentage of cars to people in Brazil tends to be high. It is one of the reasons car companies love Brazil. There are historical reasons for that. Mostly politics related.

HardlyCurious 4y ago
If that is your standard for being a 'car country'. What is your standard for being a 'public transport country' or 'train country'?
jononomo 4y ago
Does São Paulo have more cars than people even if you include children? Surely there must also be an underclass of very poor or homeless people who do not own cars. What accounts for the fact that there are more cars than people? Is it common for a household of four (mother, father, son, daughter) to own five or six cars?
- bluGill 4y ago
  I don't know Brazil, but based on what I know of the US I wouldn't be surprised. A couple will often own 3 cars, 2 daily drivers and one for some other odd task (truck, or the sports car) that is used as a backup. It will be one car per kid of driving age, though most kids are not old enough to drive. Then there are work cars, which for tax/legal reasons can't be used for personal trips so those who have them will also have a personal car for non-work trips. There are people who keep a car at their vacation house. Rental cars also add a fair number of cars. Plus collectors who have a dozen cars that they only drive to shows. It all adds up.
  - jononomo 4y ago
    Ok, but in the US there are forty five million fewer registered vehicles than there are people, even after accounting for all the factors you listed. There are 286 million registered vehicles for a population of 331 million people. And the US is the wealthiest nation in the world.
    - dghlsakjg 4y ago
      The more important metric is that there are only 238 million licensed drivers in the US. So if every single licensed driver went for a drive, they could invite all 26 million licensed Canadians to come down and use a spare car, and still have 22 million registered cars left over.
- EL_Loco 4y ago
  No, São Paulo doesn't have more cars than people. I don't know where the parent got their data. I'll stand corrected if shown data supporting it, but the numbers I found were more like 7 cars for ever 10 inhabitants, and I don't even know if children taken into account. I lived in São Paulo for many years, and I sold my car before I moved there. Living downtown, one is better off without one. However, more cars than inhabitants seems and exaggeration. Edit: Did some quick checking. According to the national institute of statistics, São Paulo's fleet is about 8.8 million (this includes over 1 million motorcycles, plus all the busses, tractors, trucks, etc. Regular cars are 6 million). Population is 12.3 million.
fleddr 4y ago
We have an office in São Paulo which I visited, so I'm familiar with it. It's a ridiculous city. It's so complicated that even people working in the office regularly get lost in the city. A true concrete jungle. We were in a 3 hour traffic jam just to go to a place for lunch.
cesarb 4y ago
You forgot to mention the rodízio. Depending on the final digit of your car plate, there's one day of the week in which it is forbidden from being used in the rush hour within the central part of that huge city.
aardvarkr 4y ago
That’s not a car country, that’s a traffic country.
EL_Loco 4y ago
I just checked the Detran and IBGE's numbers. There aren't more cars than people in São Paulo. It's a traffic hell, for sure, but still less cars than people.

HardlyCurious 4y ago

If that is your standard for being a 'car country'. What is your standard for being a 'public transport country' or 'train country'?

jononomo 4y ago

Does São Paulo have more cars than people even if you include children? Surely there must also be an underclass of very poor or homeless people who do not own cars. What accounts for the fact that there are more cars than people? Is it common for a household of four (mother, father, son, daughter) to own five or six cars?

bluGill 4y ago
I don't know Brazil, but based on what I know of the US I wouldn't be surprised. A couple will often own 3 cars, 2 daily drivers and one for some other odd task (truck, or the sports car) that is used as a backup. It will be one car per kid of driving age, though most kids are not old enough to drive. Then there are work cars, which for tax/legal reasons can't be used for personal trips so those who have them will also have a personal car for non-work trips. There are people who keep a car at their vacation house. Rental cars also add a fair number of cars. Plus collectors who have a dozen cars that they only drive to shows. It all adds up.
- jononomo 4y ago
  Ok, but in the US there are forty five million fewer registered vehicles than there are people, even after accounting for all the factors you listed. There are 286 million registered vehicles for a population of 331 million people. And the US is the wealthiest nation in the world.
  - dghlsakjg 4y ago
    The more important metric is that there are only 238 million licensed drivers in the US. So if every single licensed driver went for a drive, they could invite all 26 million licensed Canadians to come down and use a spare car, and still have 22 million registered cars left over.
EL_Loco 4y ago
No, São Paulo doesn't have more cars than people. I don't know where the parent got their data. I'll stand corrected if shown data supporting it, but the numbers I found were more like 7 cars for ever 10 inhabitants, and I don't even know if children taken into account. I lived in São Paulo for many years, and I sold my car before I moved there. Living downtown, one is better off without one. However, more cars than inhabitants seems and exaggeration. Edit: Did some quick checking. According to the national institute of statistics, São Paulo's fleet is about 8.8 million (this includes over 1 million motorcycles, plus all the busses, tractors, trucks, etc. Regular cars are 6 million). Population is 12.3 million.

fleddr 4y ago

We have an office in São Paulo which I visited, so I'm familiar with it. It's a ridiculous city. It's so complicated that even people working in the office regularly get lost in the city. A true concrete jungle. We were in a 3 hour traffic jam just to go to a place for lunch.

cesarb 4y ago

You forgot to mention the rodízio. Depending on the final digit of your car plate, there's one day of the week in which it is forbidden from being used in the rush hour within the central part of that huge city.

aardvarkr 4y ago

That’s not a car country, that’s a traffic country.

EL_Loco 4y ago

I just checked the Detran and IBGE's numbers. There aren't more cars than people in São Paulo. It's a traffic hell, for sure, but still less cars than people.