Transport for NSW

Community engagement for the Sydney Harbour Bridge cycleway

Blue app icon with two overlapping black speech bubbles.
A curved pedestrian walkway with a black metal railing on both sides, lined with palm trees, under a blue sky with some clouds, in an urban area with modern buildings and a train station nearby.

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.

Curving outdoor walkway bordered by black metal railings, with trees and high-rise buildings in the background.

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. 

Modern architectural bridge or overpass with a black curved railing, surrounded by lush green trees and tall palm trees, with a cloudy sky in the background.

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.