Transport for NSW
Community engagement for the Sydney Harbour Bridge cycleway
Client | Transport for NSW
Service | Stakeholder and community engagement
Duration | 2020 - 2022
Sectors | active transport, urban renewal
The ramp opened in January 2026 to positive reception and has contributed to a 121% increase in ridership between May 2025 and May 2026.
Project Overview
We supported Transport for NSW to deliver stakeholder and community engagement for the Sydney Harbour Bridge Cycleway Ramp, a long-running project to improve bike access across the Harbour Bridge. The key challenge was navigating strongly held and competing views from residents and cyclists, while building a clear, defensible path forward.
Our approach
We led engagement across the full project lifecycle, from early concept development through to public exhibition. We prioritised early engagement with stakeholders on all sides of the debate, listened to concerns and showed how feedback would shape outcomes.
We designed and delivered three major engagement phases: early engagement on ramp alignments, consultation on design competition concepts and public exhibition of the Review of Environmental Factors.
We broadened participation through targeted engagement with Aboriginal knowledge holders to embed Connecting with Country principles, social housing residents, market operators and a randomly selected Community and Bike User Group.
What we delivered
We delivered three multi-channel engagement campaigns combining surveys, webinars, pop-ups, door knocks and community briefings. Alongside this, we developed a suite of accessible and engaging communication materials, including fact sheets, video content and an interactive online map to support informed participation.
To strengthen insight and defensibility, we applied machine learning techniques to analyse more than 2,500 survey responses, cross-referencing results by location and riding experience to identify key patterns of support and concern. We consolidated these insights into comprehensive Consultation Outcomes Reports that clearly linked community feedback to project decisions.
Impact
The program demonstrated broad community support for a ramp solution, with 82% of respondents to the first survey supporting a proposed option. This provided a strong evidence base to progress the project through approvals.
The ramp opened in January 2026 to positive reception and has contributed to a 121% increase in ridership between May 2025 and May 2026.