What the “Rodízio” says about Sao Paulo

Today (Tuesday) was my rodízio. I normally get up for work at 5:30 am and leave the house at 6:30 am, but because of rodízio today, I had to get up 5:15 and leave at 6:15. I hate rodízio days! I lose those precious 15 extra minutes of sleep…

Now what exactly is the rodízio? Rodízio (pronounced Hoe-Gee-Zee-Oo), means "rotation" in Portuguese. It is often used in the Brazilian steakhouses, where there are unlimited meats rotating around the restaurant. However, this "rotation" is different. It’s something we don’t have to worry about in Chicago. It’s the one workday a week that you can’t drive between 7am-10am or 5pm-8pm. During rush hour, 20% of Sao Paulo’s cars are required to be off the streets.

Well, how do you know that today is your day of rodízio? And what happens if you don’t follow the rodízio? Well, Sao Paulo is strict about the rodízio. It is no laughing matter here. There are 10 possible numbers that can be the last number of your license plate (0-9) and each day two of those numbers have rodízio. For example, on Monday, numbers 1 & 2 follow the rodízio while on Tuesday, numbers 3 & 4 are on rodízio. If your number happens to be in rodízio, or in the "rotation," it is advisable to not be driving during rush hour because the rodízio is well-enforced and you will most likely be fined.

Because I work at DHL in Lapa, a bairro of Sao Paulo (bairro, pronounced buy-who, means neighborhood in Portuguese), I have begun catching rides with another worker javascript:void(0)there. She has the same schedule as me so she picks me up every morning and drops me off every evening. DHL is about a 10 minute drive from my house… but by bus takes me nearly an hour to get there, making it somewhat impractical. However, on rodízio days, we have to leave by 6:45 am and can’t leave the office until after 8pm… it makes for a LONG day!

What’s interesting about rodízio, though, isn’t that I lose sleep or time at home (while I find that a bit annoying… it probably doesn’t interest most of you…) but instead that it shows a lot about Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo is HUGE. Sao Paulo is crowded. And most of all, Sao Paulo is changing... "modernizing" if you will. Streets that were once satisfactory for the modes of transportation are being so overcrowded now that cars have to be prohibited from driving. According to www.cityfix.com, 800 new cars enter Sao Paulo’s streets each day. In a city of millions, this doesn’t seem like many, but it adds up quickly.

Brazil is still a third world country, yes. Or, I could call it a “developing country” to be politically correct. However, the actual city of Sao Paulo is quickly changing. It brings in the largest amount of income to the country of Brazil and internet, computers, cell phones and other technologies are by no means uncommon to find. While much of Brazil doesn’t have the same “modernizing” patterns as Sao Paulo, the rodízio is just the tip of the iceberg to show how Sao Paulo has been changing. It's a great way to see how another country in the world is attempting to deal with the advantages and disadvantages of modernization.