The biggest city of the nation grew to so many challenges due to its economical status and importance and with those came countless major obstacles, and among them
the problem of transportation was one of the most challenging ever faced by São Paulo. This short documentary from the 1950's shows how this giant city was trying to adapt
itself with modernity and new technological advances in order to benefit its citizens and countless migrations from all regions of Brazil, to guarantee safe transportation,
more streets and more infrastructure. A challenge then, in an era where the plans of urbanization were making of São Paulo one of the major cities around the world and the plans
for subway stations still didn't get off the paper, and a challenge we still face every day with the lack of mobility from distant areas to get a fast access to major points and
to reach downtown where everything happens.
It's a very educational project detailing the obstacles faced by everyone who lives in the city, and how costly it was to keep things going, point in fact being the
bus lines and the budget available to keep things working (from maintenance of the vehicles to the support given to the drivers). I find it very curious that is mentioned that the bus fare back then kept without increase for a couple of years,
which is quite rare in recent years, there's always a raise in the prices each year goes by and it affects people's budget time and again. It shows a city in progress, not one
step behind from major metropolis as New York or London, but with many problems to be solved (but we got there, with subway and train stations, and there's always a new thing
being developed; bus corridors to reduce journey time; bike corridors, etc.
For curious minds and nostalgic viewers who want to take a look back at how this magnificent city back in the 1950's this is an important and interesting project. It's
very cool to make a comparison between times: how it started and how it became in the following decades. It certainly improved for the better, but for those who live in
distant areas of the city the struggle to depend on public transportation is a real struggle that depending of public administrators it gets a little better, there is some
evolution...but it takes an awful lot of time. Still a work in progress to eliminate those deficiencies. 8/10.