The first morning test of the 24-hour operation of the São Paulo metro, this Sunday (7), pleased those who were used to boarding buses and cars using transport applications to move around the city. The stations of lines 1-blue, 2-green and 3-red welcomed those leaving shows, clubs and many workers.
Red line 3 was the busiest and there were even passengers standing in the cars. “I work late every Saturday and now I won’t have to worry about the schedule,” said Priscila Rosa, 40, an employee of the Allianz Parque, which hosted a concert by singer Gusttavo Lima this Saturday.
Another event that contributed to increasing the occupancy rate of the station was the Festival do Matiz, on the Chá viaduct, in the central region. Fashion intern Maria Clara Assis, 24, her boyfriend João Almeida, 24, and his friend Stefano Remondi, 25, were present at the show and chose to take the metro home.
“I use public transportation every day to get to work, but I have never done it early in the morning, after a party,” Maria Clara said. “We would pay for an Uber with a lot of pain in our pockets, because it would be very expensive,” he added.
Normally, the metro stops between midnight and 4:40 a.m. With the test, it will now offer trains with intervals of between 20 and 30 minutes at this time. Accustomed to using the bus to get home from work, event organizer Suelen Correia, 31, calculated the time she would save by traveling between Anhangabaú and Tatuapé stations.
“It will take me an hour less to get home,” he said. “I work here in the center and I usually take a bus to Dom Pedro 2º park, then another to my neighborhood, which takes two hours.”
From 2:30 a.m., the report indicates that the interval between trains on lines 1-blue and 2-green reaches 35 minutes, which does not impact the service. “For me, today was perfect,” said security guard Carlos Alberto Lima, 55. “I come home from work and started the 24-hour operation. I will quickly arrive at my home in Vila Matilde and I will not spend money on Uber.”
Line 15-silver also operated in the early hours of this Sunday, but with buses from the Paese system. The monorail will operate starting next week, according to Metro.
The station counters were closed and to buy tickets you had to use self-service machines, Google Wallet, WhatsApp or debit and credit cards, already accepted on lines 1-blue and 3-red. Testing is expected to continue until February 2026.
Young people are the majority
The user’s profile changes throughout the night. Between midnight and 1 a.m., there are many workers and slightly older people. After 2 a.m., the crowd arrives and the young people dominate.
Friends Íris Mizan, 23, and Juliana Bicudo, 22, decided to test the new service. “We took the three lines. We went to the Moela bar, in Santa Cecília, near the red, we took the blue, in Sé, and continued to Paraíso, where we changed to the green and went home, to Vila Madalena,” said Iris, a social scientist. “We thought the trains were quite full, especially the red ones, and the intervals seemed reasonable to us.”
Some, however, criticized the fact that the entire rail network was not operating in the early hours. “I really liked the initiative, it’s wonderful,” said lawyer Clara Motta, 29, who was returning from a party in Lapa and heading to her home in Santana, via the 1-blue line. “But I think the service could also operate on the 4-yellow line and even on the CPTM.”
Lines 4-yellow and 5-lilac are managed by the private sector and, for now, they will continue to operate normally.
At 3 a.m., geography students Calil Akira, 20, Isabela Navickas, 19, and João Cabral, 23, boarded the metro after strolling through several bars on Rua Augusta.
“Right now, the metro is helping nightlife, enriching it and making it more accessible and safer for people,” Akira said. “I feel safer using public transport than using any app,” Isabela added.
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