Brasilândia feels more like a village in its own right than a peripheral district in a bustling metropolis of nearly 20 million people. Miles from the hustle and bustle of São Paulo’s central area, children play in the streets and passersby greet each other.

That does not, however, mean non-residents are comfortable coming here. Peripheral districts have a reputation for violence and crime, and many large taxi companies and ride-hailing apps such as Uber, 99 and Cabify refuse to accept trips to parts of the periphery – including sections of Brasilândia – due to safety concerns.

We hire local drivers who are not prejudiced and not afraid to work here Alvimar da Silva

With few locals able to afford a car and public transport options severely limited, this is a problem. An estimated 300,000 residents live in small working-class houses and favelas, and incomes are among the lowest in the city. People here live on an average of 502 reais (£94) per capita per month – less than a third of the São Paulo average and a world away from the 4,967 reais (£930) of those in the district of Moema.

The nearest metro station is five miles away and locals rely on overcrowded and unreliable buses.

One small company is trying to change that, though – by hiring local drivers, offering alternatives to smartphone booking, and accepting payments in cash or petrol.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Alvimar da Silva started Ubra last year with his son, daughter and some friends. Photograph: Ignacio Amigo

That company is Ubra – an obvious nod to Uber, but also a portmanteau from “Union of Brasilândia”. Former app driver Alvimar da Silva started it last year with his son, daughter and some friends when he realised he was making more money giving informal rides to his neighbours in Brasilândia than working for the big ride-hailing firms.

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“There’s a myth about the periphery being dangerous,” says Da Silva. “I say violence is everywhere – probably even more so in the central area than in the periphery. Our modus operandi was hiring local drivers, born and resident in Brasilândia, who are not prejudiced against it and are not afraid to work here.”

Uber, 99 and Cabify all admit they flag trips that start or end in certain places. Uber says its app “can prevent trip calls from areas with public safety challenges in specific days or times”, adding that it uses an algorithm with machine-learning technology that evaluates risks based on “real-time analysis of the data from the millions of trips performed daily through the app”. The company 99 says its app notifies drivers “when a trip starts, ends or passes through areas of the city that are considered risky”, leaving them to decide whether or not to accept it. Similarly, Cabify confirms that the company doesn’t operate in certain areas, including Brasilândia.

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According to its own figures, Ubra performs 5,000 to 6,000 trips a month, the vast majority of them either starting or finishing in Brasilândia.

Gilberto Oliveira Souza, known as Japa, works as a hairdresser in the area. He describes the new services as “a blessing”. “It helps us a lot, we use it all the time: to go shopping, to take our child to the doctor … It really lets us off the hook.”

Previously, his family faced a long walk to the bus terminal and an uncertain wait for a bus. Even when they got a ride home in a taxi or one of the large ride-hailing companies, sometimes the driver would refuse to go inside the neighbourhood, meaning another long walk.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Gilberto Oliveira Souza, who works as a hairdresser in Brasilândia, says Ubra has been a blessing for his family. Photograph: Ignacio Amigo

Ubra works much like other ride-hailing firms: users download a third-party app, create a profile and enter their location and destination. Once a driver is located, the user gets the car model and licence plate, the driver’s name and the estimated time of arrival.

But Ubra also allows passengers to order a ride by calling a phone number or sending a WhatsApp message. This allows access to people without mobile phones or with a poor internet connection, both common in São Paulo’s periphery. It also makes the service available to the less digitally savvy.

Our focus is in the areas that are being excluded Aline Landim

This quest for accessibility can take imaginative turns. “When drivers don’t have a credit card terminal and a passenger doesn’t have cash, one of the things we do is to ask the passenger if he would mind stopping at a gas station and paying the cost of the ride in gasoline,” says Da Silva.

Ubra hopes to scale up to other under-served areas and recruit local drivers there.

“Our focus is in the areas that are being excluded [from the other apps], but we will eventually work in all São Paulo”, says Aline Landim, Da Silva’s daughter. Finding local drivers to work in these places will not be a problem: “There is a large demand from the drivers themselves to work just around their neighbourhoods. They want to avoid traffic and gasoline expenses, while being close to their homes and families.”

The company is also developing its own bespoke app – and plans to change its name to Jaubra to avoid legal problems with Uber.

“Brasilândia has over 300,000 people and I estimate that we currently serve only 2% to 3% of the neighbourhood,” says Da Silva. “With the new app, I think we are going to take a leap forward to 15% or 20%, but it could be more, because the big companies are increasingly vetting the periphery. The more they exclude, the more we will include.”

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