The end of the year is considered by many to be the time to pack your bags and leave the craziness of São Paulo behind. It lets you pack your bags, look for tickets, or prepare the car for trips that invariably end at the beach.
There are, however, people who have other plans: to wait quietly for everyone to leave to enjoy the empty city.
HR analyst Acácia Soares, 45, has already experienced other changes outside the capital São Paulo, but what she discovered didn’t please her. “Difficulty going to restaurants and the market, things like that,” he says.
From now on, he prefers to stay in São Paulo. “Other places are very full, very busy and here the city is emptier, quieter to do things,” he says.
The much desired “emptiness” is easily explained. An estimated 2.5 million vehicles will leave the city during the holiday season. Therefore, the first days of the year are usually heaven on earth for São Paulo residents who are used to driving around the city.
It’s no coincidence that traffic is usually the main thermometer indicating how badly something is wrong in the chaotic order that dominates the metropolis.
On the 18th, a Thursday, the slowdown rate was 1,081 km at 6 p.m., enough traffic jams to queue cars between São Paulo and Brasilia. For comparison, January 2, 2025, also a Thursday, was only 54 km long, at the same time.
It is to take advantage of this emptiness that many people decide not to move. There are few of them among the crowd, but they consider themselves lucky in a way.
Edna Maria de Souza, 49, a cleaner in a shopping center in the capital, says she has already spent New Year’s Eve elsewhere, but prefers to stay in the empty city with her family. “It’s calmer, more peaceful. I like it,” he says.
There are people who stay in the city not by choice, but by lack of money. They nevertheless manage to take advantage of these days when the hustle and bustle seems to pack up and take a break.
“We prefer to stay here, no. It’s just that we don’t have the means to travel. This is what’s left,” explains Ana Bentes da Silva, 45, a cleaning worker. But he also sees a positive side. “The city becomes calmer, emptier. »
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