Lessons from George Street, Sydney

Project Background

George Street runs through the heart of the Sydney city centre and has been a key shopping district for over a hundred years. More recently the street had been crammed with cars, trucks and buses, leaving little room for shoppers to move about safely. Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) led a $43.5m project for the introduction of light rail along the street. The light rail network is a 12km route with 19 stops, extending from Circular Quay on the Sydney foreshore along George Street to Central Station and then to Randwick. This project started in 2016 and created a car-free shopping precinct that would eventually create 9,000 square meters of pedestrianised public space.

MRCagney’s Kent Lundberg and Scott Ebbett recently hosted a webinar that discussed the planning that went into the George Street project and the steps taken to mitigate business disruption during construction. Four people from TfNSW that worked on the project joined the webinar to give insights into project communication, planning and delivery.

We caught up with Scott to find out more and to get his takeaways from the session.

What was the purpose of the webinar?

The intention was to help our clients from around Aotearoa, particularly those in major centres like Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin, to understand the complexity of pedestrianising main streets and how we can achieve successful outcomes through thorough planning.

The information we took away from the session is particularly relevant to Wellington, as work is being done to create a bus corridor and pedestrian improvements along the Golden Mile.

Work of this nature has the potential to disrupt retailers in the city centre, and the Sydney team was able to shed some light on how they handled the communication and to help mitigate the retailer's concerns.

What did George Street look like before the project began?

George Street has many lovely buildings and shops, but the street wasn't functioning well. Before the project began, the street was congested with buses and cars which degraded the experience of the street. The traffic density was likened to a conga line where you could walk across the roof from one bus to another faster than the buses were moving.

Photo: Buses lined up George Street 2010 (credit: Wongm Rail Gallery)

How did they plan the traffic disruption during construction?

The project team decided on a Travel Demand Management (TDM) programme to reduce vehicle traffic coming into the Sydney CBD during the construction period. TDM applies a focused, data-led strategy that looks to redistribute journeys to other modes, times and routes or removing the trip altogether.

To prevent traffic chaos in and around George Street, they sought to have fewer people driving cars into the city centre. They promoted a shift to bus or train commuting, working from home or finishing work later to avoid peak travel times.

The TDM measures achieved a 9% reduction in people driving into the city.

How did they plan for disruption to goods deliveries?

The team put enormous effort into collecting data on how freight came into and was distributed around the George Street area. They looked at the type of product is delivered to the shops and when it arrives.

The data showed that up to 35,000 delivery vehicles entered the city centre each day and that freight deliveries were happening at the same time as the peak number of buses arrived in the city centre. The project team suggested to courier and freight companies that they alter their deliveries to an earlier or later time to help mitigate the congestion.

Reference groups were also set up to engage with the transport industry and investigate alternative ways to deliver freight to the city centre.

TfNSW established a parcel consolidation hub in a council car park on the edge of the city centre. Goods and parcels are delivered to the hub by trucks and vans and stored in lock-up cages until couriers on bikes or foot pick up and carry out final delivery to the customer.

How did they communicate the project to affected businesses?

Communications was a key part of the George Street project and was well resourced. They met with over 850 businesses to explain the project and reiterate that the work would be disruptive. The communications team worked closely with the businesses throughout the project to ensure they were updated. Additionally, a dedicated website was set up holding up-to-date project information and tips to help business logistics.

It is important to note that this project was programmed for eighteen months but took around four years in the end. So, the disruption to businesses continued for considerably longer than initially intended.

What was the effect of the project on city centre parking?

Almost all the on-street parking along George Street and surrounding streets was removed with the space being reallocated to buses, loading zones and mobility parking. This parking wasn't restored at project completion, but shoppers now have excellent public transport through the light rail network, and a more vibrant and people-friendly pedestrian space has been created.

How have the city centre retailers reacted to the new street?

The retailers certainly struggled with the pain of disruption during construction, while lockdowns during the first part of the COVID pandemic added to their problems. However, lately the street has begun to boom, and the light rail is incredibly well used.

George Street has gone from a congested roadway to a vibrant pedestrian precinct.

What can we learn from Sydney’s George Street?

The most significant learning from this project is how important planning and resourcing are to a successful outcome. It is critical to understanding all elements of city logistics and plan how these will operate throughout construction and in the future state.

It is also vitally important that a well-resourced stakeholder engagement team is set up. The team must ensure that a large amount of accurate data is collected to ensure quality information is available during stakeholder engagement.

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