São Paulo picture from: http://arqfuturo.com.br/
TRANSPORTATION
Transport in São Paulo: general information
Locomotion in São Paulo may be done by bus, subway, train (integrated with subway), taxis or private drives operating with smartphone applications.
Choosing among these options may depend on the time of the day. During the day and out of the peak hours (8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.), subway and buses are very efficient and fast - most buses travel in exclusive lanes, going to the main sights of the city. Trains, integrated with the subway, serve more distant neighborhoods and even nearby towns. At night, it is advisable getting a taxi.
In this page we provide general information about transport in the city. To see more about how to get from the airport to the Hotel we recommended and from the Hotel to SPSAS-Ocean venue, click on the links in the yellow box on the left to visit each subpage.
General Information
SUBWAY and TRAIN
São Paulo has a extensive Metropolitan Transport Network, which is connected and give access to many areas of the city (Click on the map bellow to see more). The subway system is called “metrô” and train "trem". The single trip fare in São Paulo, regardless of the distance you travel, is now (July 2017) R$4,00 (about US$1.07).
Individual passes for subway can be bought in any subway station, at the box office, and the same is valid for the train system - note that a train ticket cannot be used in a subway's ratchet and vice-versa.
Another option for transportation passes is the "Bilhete Único" (Unified Card): a magnetic card that can be recharged and reused and provide discounts for bus-subway-train integrations. Using this card, instead of paying R$8,00 for a trip using a bus line and them a subway (two times R$4,00), you will pay only R$6,96. the "Bilhete Único" can be bought in any big bus terminal and in some other places around the city. At the same stand where you can buy your card, you can charge it with any amount of money you want.
São Paulo's subway is very organized and clean, counting with 5 lines; from those, line 4 Yellow is the most relevant to SPSAS Participants, since it give access to the subway station closer to the Hotel (Fradique Coutinho Station) and to USP Campus (Butantã Station). In São Paulo, the subway lines are equipped with signs in English and also with an English voice-system that announces the stations' names, what may make this option the most comfortable one among the public transportation means. To see information on how to get from the airport to the Golden Tower Hotel check the FROM AIRPORT > section of this page, to see how to get to SPSAS-Ocean venue at USP Campus check the To SPSAS Venue > section.
Subway stations open, from Monday to Friday and on Sundays, from 4:40 a.m. to midnight. they work one more hour on Saturndays, going grom 4:40 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.
During peak hours (8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. to 7 p.m. - Monday to Friday), public transportation may be very crowded and most passengers will be unable to sit. Be aware of the station you will have to get off in order to be close to the doors to leave the trains in peak hours. Most subways have a luminous panel indicating which station the car is in and which is next.
There is an São Paulo's Subway app for smartphones, in Portuguese and in English:
https://itunes.apple.com/br/app/metro-de-sao-paulo-oficial/id712303110?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=br.com.metrosp.appmetro
BUSES
São Paulo has huge infrastructure of bus lines. Buses are called "ônibus". Part of the main lines navigate on specific lanes, what reduces the impact of cars traffic jam on the time for travelling by bus. As for the subway, the single trip fare in São Paulo, regardless of the distance you travel, is now (July 2017) R$4,00 (about US$1.07).
Individual passes for buses are paid inside the buses for the cashier that controls the ratchet in the middle of the bus. If you have the magnectic cartd "Bilhete Único", also used in the subway, you can change buses three times in a three hour period and only pay one fare.
You can check for itineraries, bus lines and places to go, together with information about travel-time, and distance either on the São Paulo Company of Transport-SPTrans website (in Portuguese) or on Google Maps. If you need information about accessible buses, you can also check SPTrans website.
As in the subway, buses may be very crowded during peak hours and most passengers will be unable to sit. If you are not familiar with the path of buses and their stops, it may be very difficult to get to the correct destination, so if you have to take a bus, plan ahead.
TAXI
Taxis in Brazil are usually white cars with a luminous "Taxi" indicator and red license plates. Taxi services are usually considered not expensive in Brazil, when compared to other countries. Let us take as an example a passenger travelling from the Golden Tower Hotel to the Oceanographic Institute at USP. The distance is about 7 km. During daytime, the common taxi fare will be about R$23,57 (nearly US$6.30); during the night, about R$28,94. Of course this prices will due to traffic intensity in peak yours.
For people willing to use taxis in São Paulo, they can contact the driver directly in the nearest Taxi Stand or waving for an empty passing Taxi (the luminous indicator is off - usually noticed during the night), and there are some smartphone applications such as 99Taxis and EasyTaxi that can be very useful and have lower prices. They use the smartphone GPS device to detect your localization, and call nearby taxis.
Another option is the Uber service, also regularized by São Paulo City Hall. Uber usually have the lowest prices.