The operating hours of a controversial clearway on Oxford Street will be permanently cut after a year-long trial found it made no difference to bus travel times.
The change has been welcomed by retailers who say the clearway takes up valuable parking space and hurts trade.
Lord mayor Clover Moore says the state government must remove the clearway entirely if it is serious about reviving the ailing strip.
Traffic monitoring by Roads and Maritime Services, completed in November last year, measured the effect of delaying by one hour the implementation time of an outbound afternoon bus lane between Taylor Square and Queen Street.
The findings released this week found starting the clearway at 4pm, rather than 3pm – allowing kerbside parking for an extra hour – did not contribute to an increase in bus travel times.
While bus journey times worsened slightly between 3pm and 4pm over the year, the delays were “no worse than other time periods” and still below scheduled times, the report found.
Critics of clearways say they prioritise traffic flows over parking spaces, retail trade and pedestrian amenity.
But supporters say local interests must be balanced with the wider costs to the community of congestion, and that councils should create more off-street parking.
The clearway debate has been most fierce on Oxford Street, an arterial route suffering a severe downturn in trade, a high rate of commercial vacancies, traffic delays and scarce off-street parking.
Cr Moore said making the 4pm start permanent was “a step in the right direction”.
“However, if the state government and RMS are serious about helping local businesses and reviving Oxford Street, the clearway needs to be removed,” she said.
Cr Moore said the speed of vehicles also affected safety and amenity on Oxford Street, and the limit should be reduced to 40km/h.
Paddington Business Partnership spokeswoman Sally Tremlett said the clearway reduction was “a great achievement”. But further measures should be taken to slow down traffic and allow outdoor dining, which she said was not permitted during clearway hours.
She said the finding that delaying the clearway did not increase bus times led businesses to "question why there is a clearway" at all.
Roads Minister Duncan Gay said the government would work with the community and businesses "to provide further improvements, recognising Oxford Street is an important retail district and a busy and important transport link".
