Ride-hailing apps and the decision to own a car in João Pessoa

João Pessoa's vehicle fleet grew almost 50% in ten years and surpassed 500,000 registrations in 2025.

The fleet of vehicles registered in João Pessoa reached 504,480 units in 2025, a growth of 49.2% in ten years — in December 2015 there were 355,132 vehicles —, according to a survey by Detran-PB released by CBN Paraíba. The agency also periodically publishes the motorization index by municipality, measured in vehicles per 10,000 inhabitants, allowing João Pessoa to be compared with other cities in Paraíba. This accelerated fleet growth is one of the factors putting pressure on traffic and on demand for parking spaces in the more central neighborhoods and along the waterfront.

For those arriving in the city, ride-hailing apps (such as Uber and 99) operate normally and are widely used as a complement or alternative to public transit, especially at night and in neighborhoods farther from the most frequent bus lines — but no official statistics on the number of drivers or app rides specifically in João Pessoa were found in the sources consulted, since these platforms do not release open public data by municipality.

Deciding between owning a car or relying on buses and apps depends a lot on the chosen neighborhood: those living near the waterfront, in Manaíra, Tambaú or Cabo Branco, tend to handle much of their day-to-day life on foot or by app, while neighborhoods farther from the tourist center, such as Mangabeira or Valentina, usually require a car of one's own or greater reliance on public transit for commutes to work and school.