Georges Street car-free trial lifts retail footfall 19 per cent

The two year review of Sydney's car-free Georges Street trial has found pedestrian activity on the street rose 19 per cent and retail turnover increased 6 per cent, leading the City of Sydney to recommend the arrangement be made permanent and extended with a managed loading zone.

The review, released on 10 September and commissioned by the council, compared sensor footfall counts, delivery data, traffic counts and merchant survey responses across the trial area against the 2023 baseline, before the first closure.

What the Georges Street pedestrianisation review found

The Georges Street pedestrianisation review is the most detailed evidence yet produced on any car-free street in the central business district. Its methodology combined twelve months of pedestrian sensor data against a matched control street, footfall counting at eleven fixed sites, delivery vehicle logs, and a merchant survey with 96 respondents, a response rate the council describes as unusually high for the sector.

Two findings are worth isolating. First, the growth in footfall was not confined to the retail hours: the largest increases occurred between 6am and 9am, when the street functions as a walking route rather than a shopping street. Second, evening footfall after 6pm grew 14 per cent, contradicting the argument that a car-free street cannot be safely used outside business hours.

The review also recorded a shift in the composition of the visitor mix, with more people arriving on foot or by light rail and fewer by taxi or private car.

The counts behind the headline

Average weekday pedestrian counts on the 400-metre section between Railway Square and Town Hall rose from 31,400 to 37,300 a day. Weekend counts rose more sharply, up 27 per cent, with the strongest growth on Saturday afternoons. The pattern is a flatter, longer-stay profile: the share of people crossing the street fell from 48 per cent to 39 per cent, while the average dwell time rose from 11 minutes to 17.

Retail turnover across 96 surveyed businesses averaged a 6 per cent increase. The strongest performers were food and beverage, which rose 14 per cent, and bookshops and stationery, up 9 per cent. Fashion and department stores were flat, and two jewelellers reported a 12 per cent decline. Of the businesses surveyed, 71 per cent said they wanted the arrangement to continue, and 19 per cent said they wanted cars returned.

Vehicle speeds in the trial area fell to 11 km/h on Georges Street, down from 28 km/h, and the volume of delivery vehicles fell 41 per cent despite the growth in customer visits.

The loading zone argument

The review's central recommendation is a compromise on access: a permanent pedestrianisation of the street with a managed loading zone operating from 5am to 10am, seven days a week, and two disabled parking bays maintained at the northern end.

A council officers' report accompanying the review found that most merchant objections concerned access rather than the absence of cars, and that timed deliveries addressed about 70 per cent of the access issues raised during consultation. The report proposed a dedicated delivery booking system, similar to the one operating on parts of The Rocks, and an indemnity scheme for traders whose existing access arrangements are materially changed.

The council has committed to an on-street loading facility on the parallel section of George Street, and to signalised crossings at the Railway Square and Town Hall ends. A bicycle parking and repair station on the trial area's eastern edge has also been funded, following a trial installation that recorded 1,900 uses in its first month.

The experiment's detractors have focused on ambulance access, and the review records two occasions when emergency vehicle access was obstructed by delivery activity outside the agreed hours. A new dispatch protocol with the ambulance service is part of the recommendation.

The wider CBD street programme

The recommendations sit inside a larger sequence of street changes across the central business district. The separate George Street light rail project remains in delivery, with its final stage — the section between Central Station and Circular Quay — now expected to open in stages from 2028.

Councillors will consider the permanent pedestrianisation at a meeting later this year, and the trial is currently scheduled to end on 30 November. City staff have signalled that if the item is deferred beyond that date, the closure will be extended month to month rather than lifted.

The council's own monitoring data is published alongside the review, and street-level counts are available through the City of Sydney open data portal. For more on the city's transport and planning agenda, see the City hub.