Oxford Street East Cycleway

A cycleway will help rejuvenate Oxford Street by improving its amenity, encouraging people of all ages to ride, making it safer for people riding bikes  and helping reduce congestion, noise and pollution.

There are numerous active transport projects underway or recently completed in the city and surrounding areas of Bondi Junction, Surry Hills/Darlinghurst, the CBD and Randwick. This is the missing link to connect these cycleways for safer travel between the Eastern Suburbs and Sydney CBD.

The Oxford Street East Cycleway project proposes a two-way cycleway on the south side of Oxford Street between Paddington Gates and Taylor Square. It will change the allocation of road space, reducing four traffic lanes to two and retaining two bus lanes and kerbside parking.

The cycleway would connect to the Centennial Park Cycleway, which has been completed, and the Oxford Street West Cycleway, which is being delivered by the City of Sydney. Together these bike lanes will create a continuous separated cycle corridor between Bondi and Sydney CBD.

Building on early work by the City of Sydney, Transport prepared a high-level strategic design for the cycleway. In late-2022 and early-2023, Transport sought initial feedback, including from councils and other stakeholders, on an early design of the Oxford Street East Cycleway.

We are now finalising a more detailed concept design for the cycleway and plan to finalise a Review of Environmental Factors for public exhibition in late-2023.

• The cycleway would help to rejuvenate Oxford Street. Historically Oxford Street has hosted a mix of businesses, educational institutions, health facilities and visitor destinations. Replacing two lanes of traffic with a separated cycleway will enhance the amenity of Oxford Street and provide opportunities for place making by reducing traffic, noise and air pollution.  
• The cycleway would improve safety. Bike riders have no choice but to ride alongside cars and share the bus lane with buses during the peak period. Research shows that to create a mode shift change to bike riding we need to ensure people of all ages and abilities have a safe passage. A separated bike lane would provide a dedicated and safer bike route for a wide range of riders.
• The cycleway would encourage more people to choose bikes over cars. Bike riding has been identified as a critical part of Sydney’s future transport solution - especially for short trips under five kilometres. That’s roughly the distance between Bondi Junction and the City. Completing a separated cycleway between these two destinations would make bike riding a safer, reliable and viable transport option for more people.

In February 2023, Transport sought feedback on the strategic design via an interactive map.

You can view comments by clicking the link below. We have also published an Early Feedback Report which captures this feedback: Early Feedback Report (PDF, 10.31 MB)

View map

• What is the Oxford Street East Cycleway project? 
  The project seeks to deliver a new 1.8 kilometre cycleway on Oxford Street to create a safer, more convenient route for bike riders between the Eastern Suburbs and Sydney CBD. It will deliver a new two-way cycleway on the south side of the road, between Paddington Gates and Taylor Square, with a barrier to separate bike riders from vehicles. It will reallocate road space to bike riders, reducing four traffic lanes to two, while keeping two bus lanes and most kerb side parking.
• Who is responsible for delivering it?
  Transport is and we are working closely with the City of Sydney, which is delivering the Oxford Street West Cycleway. The cycleways will join at Taylor Square. 
• The cycleway was first announced in March 2021, why has it taken so long to reach this point? 
  Transport has been busy progressing the cycleway’s design but there is a process to follow, which inevitably takes time. Our team has carried out investigations along the route, led conversations with local councils and other key stakeholders, completed the strategic design and carried out early public consultation. During 2023 our work will accelerate and progress will become more noticeable, including in the lead-up to the exhibition of the Review of Environmental Factors, which is currently planned for late 2023.
• Why was Oxford Street chosen as the corridor for the permanent cycleway, instead of Moore Park Road?
  Oxford Street provides a major opportunity to revitalise Oxford Street through traffic calming and by improving connections to shops and services. The Eastern Suburbs Cycleway was first proposed in Sydney’s Cycling Future in 2013 as a continuous bike connection between Bondi Junction and the Central Business District (CBD) and is also identified as a Strategic Cycleway Corridor for the Eastern Harbour City. It will connect to the Oxford Street West Cycleway, which is being delivered by the City of Sydney, for a more direct route between the Eastern Suburbs and Sydney CBD. It is a more direct route to the CBD and more people ride along it compared to Moore Park Road. This indicates that Oxford Street has more opportunity to draw people to the area’s destinations, parks, shops and services.

• Will parking spaces be removed?
  Parking along Oxford Street is currently prohibited during the peak period to give priority to buses (westbound 6am -10am and eastbound 4pm - 7pm) and permitted during the off-peak period and at weekends. 

  We recognise that parking is important to local businesses and we are working to ensure the current arrangements broadly remain in place when the cycleway opens. However, the location and number of parking bays along Oxford Street could change to ensure bus services can continue to run efficiently. We are carrying out investigations and studies as the concept design develops, to keep any parking reduction to a minimum.

• Will the project cause congestion?
  The cycleway would provide the community with more travel choices. There are many examples which show reallocating road space to bikes and buses helps to reduce congestion. During the concept design stage, we will model the possible effects of the new bike path on the road network to understand any impacts.

• Will there be right hand turn bans?
  It is likely right hand turn bans will be introduced where there is not enough room for a dedicated turning lane. The strategic design identifies five such intersections, which we will explore further during the concept design phase, to reduce impacts on bus services. 

  These are:
  •    Northbound from South Dowling Street onto Oxford Street 
  •    Eastbound from Oxford Street onto Greens Road 
  •    Eastbound from Oxford Street onto Oatley Road 
  •    Westbound from Oxford Street onto Jersey Road 
  •    Eastbound from Oxford Street onto Lang Road. 

  Introducing right hand turn bans reduces the risk of cars turning into the path of pedestrians, bikes and other vehicles, avoids queuing behind turning vehicles and has been increasingly introduced in cities across the world to address congestion and safety issues.

• What modelling will be been done to understand traffic changes and congestion impacts on Oxford Street and surrounding roads?
  A range of traffic modelling is being undertaken to ensure that the impacts to traffic, congestion and parking are fully understood. This includes modelling of the project design for current and future years to understand the impact on vehicles and buses. Given the community concern regarding proposed right hand turn restrictions, additional detailed modelling is being undertaken for each intersection where a restriction is proposed. This will inform the traffic impacts if right hand turn bans remain in the future.
• Will there be changes to bus stops and bus services?
  We propose island bus stops on the cycleway side of the road, which will be integrated as part of the cycleway median and separated from the footpath by the cycleway. Bus passengers will access the bus stop via a pedestrian crossing. To provide reliable levels of service in both directions, Transport proposes to reduce the number of bus stops on Oxford Street. Changes to bus stops will be considered in more detail during the concept design phase.
• When will the project be delivered?
  Funds are in place to develop a concept design, Final Business Case and planning approval for the project. This will help to determine delivery funding and timeframes.
• How does the Oxford Street Cycleway connect to the rest of the bike network in the area?

  The Oxford Street East Cycleway will connect to the Centennial Park Cycleway, which has been completed, and the Oxford Street West Cycleway, which is being delivered by the City of Sydney. Together, they will create a continuous, separated cycleway corridor between Bondi Junction and Sydney CBD.

  Other active transport projects are underway or have recently been completed in the City and surrounding areas, including between Kingsford and Centennial Park. This is the missing link to connect these cycleways to Sydney’s CBD.

• The Oxford Street East and West bike lanes are situated on opposite sides of Oxford Street. How will the two connect?
  The Oxford Street West project runs on the north side of Oxford Street between Liverpool Street and Flinders Street. It is proposed riders would transition between the eastern and western sections of the bike lane via a signalised intersection at Flinders Street. This transition will be looked at more closely as part of the concept design phase.
• How wide will the lanes be along Oxford Street?
  The width will vary, however they would be three metres wide in most places (1.5 metres in each direction). Where there are island  bus stops, the cycleway would be 2.4 metres wide (1.2 metre in each direction). Traffic lanes would be 3 metres wide, which is wider than the current width of 2.5 metres, and bus lanes would be 3.2 metres wide, which is greater than the current width of 2.7 metres. Lane width will be looked at more closely as part of the concept design phase.

• Community update - June 2023 (PDF, 792.81 KB)

• Early Feedback Report - June 2023 (PDF, 10.31 MB)