São Paulo
São Paulo’s new Jornalista Érika Sallum Cycling and Pedestrian Bridge, inaugurated in January 2025, is already transforming how cyclists cross the busy Pinheiros River. Data from Strava Metro reveals a nearly five-fold increase in bike trips in the area just months after the bridge’s opening, highlighting its impact on urban mobility and cyclist safety.
The crossing of Pinheiros River between the neighborhoods of Butantã and Pinheiros is one of São Paulo’s busiest. For years, cyclists navigating between the two areas in the city's West Zone faced limited and often risky options. Their primary routes involved contending with vehicular traffic on the Bernardo Goldfarb or on the Eusébio Matoso Bridges, both of which lacked dedicated cycling infrastructure.
In January of 2025, the municipality inaugurated the new Jornalista Érika Sallum Cycling and Pedestrian Bridge, providing dedicated infrastructure to cyclists and pedestrians.
The bridge has quickly transformed urban mobility along São Paulo's Pinheiros River, as its impacts are already noticeable in the first few months after its inauguration. An analysis of trip data from users from Strava, made available to the City of São Paulo through the Strava Metro platform, showed a significant increase in the number of cyclists in the area covering part of the Bernardo Goldfarb Bridge and the cycle-pedestrian bridge.
In 2024, before the new bridge was opened, approximately 1,400 cyclists per month were recorded in the highlighted hexagonal area shown in the image below. By February 2025, that number had increased almost four-fold, reaching over 6,500 trips.
The hexagon encompasses both the Bernardo Goldfarb Bridge and the new cycle-Pedestrian Bridge, making it reasonable to assume that the latter is responsible for the difference in the number of trips.
The analysis was conducted using Hexagon Counts, a new visualization tool available on the Strava Metro platform. This tool aggregates trip data in hexagonal grids, which is particularly useful for identifying usage patterns in areas with new infrastructure that is not yet fully mapped.
Counts of trips on road segments near the cycle pedestrian bridge reveal further impacts. Notably, many cyclists have stopped using the Eusébio Matoso Bridge, which lacks dedicated cycling infrastructure, and is considered a riskier crossing.
The data suggests that many cyclists have shifted to the new cycle-pedestrian bridge, likely drawn by its safer design. This is supported by a significant drop in cyclist trips on the adjacent Eusébio Matoso Bridge following the new bridge’s opening.
Other nearby roads connecting to the cycle-pedestrian bridge have also seen an increase in bike trips compared to both the 2024 average and January 2025.
The most significant growth in trips was observed on Avendia Vital Brasil, Rua Teodoro Sampaio, Rua Butanã, Rua Agostinho Cantu, and Rua Eugênio de Medeiros (highlighted in the image and graph below).
This shows the bridge’s impact extends beyond providing a river crossing. It’s also boosting usage of existing bike infrastructure, strengthening São Paulo’s cycling network, and enabling new commuting routes.
The various data visualizations available in Strava Metro, including edges, hexagons, routes, origins and destinations, travel times, and heatmaps, along with filtering options, allow the municipality to monitor active mobility policies effectively.
This also helps public administration and community understand and communicate the benefits of infrastructure investments. They also support proposals that address urban mobility challenges and contribute to efforts to reduce emissions at-scale.
This article was produced in collaboration with members of the Executive Secretariat for Mobility and Traffic of the City of São Paulo
