‘Ridiculous’: Electronic billboards slammed as ‘modernising’ goes wrong

New street furniture in one Australian city is causing major headaches for commuters, forcing pedestrians to “walk like ducks”.

Residents have blasted the City of Sydney over new electronic billboards blocking footpaths, but Lord Mayor Clover Moore has defended the “street furniture”, saying: “Some benefits require trade-offs.”

The City of Sydney is dealing with a flurry of critisim as hundreds of Sydneysiders have called for the removal of the new installations, while lobbyists, and even a city councillor, have seriously questioned the council’s decision.

Who gives a crap about pedestrians hey @cityofsydney? pic.twitter.com/JAKajGSRdo

— Sagittarius (Sgr) A* (@fictillius) September 5, 2022

Hundreds took to online forum Reddit to share their thoughts on some of billboards which have emerged around the city in recent months.

The pile-on was sparked by a post of one billboard blocking almost half of a city footpath.

A man is even shown sidestepping around the sign.

“Are you kidding me?” the local wrote.

The post was followed by numerous comments – some calling for their removal and others questioning the decision.

New Sydney billboards are being slammed for blocking foot traffic. Picture: Reddit

“I’m usually a supporter of Clover, but really think this was a poor decision,” one commenter wrote.

“They’re ridiculously large. Comically large. Frustratingly large. There should have been some regulations to enforce a ‘no more than 20 per cent of the path can be blocked’ rule,” they continued.

“Why can’t they be normal and place it on the f***ing walls and buildings instead? More visibility, less vandalism and, more importantly, it doesn’t get in people’s way,” another wrote.

Speaking to 2GB Drive, Liberal City of Sydney councillor Lyndon Gannon slammed the rollout.

City of Sydney Liberal councillor Lyndon Gannon has called the billboards ‘ridiculous’. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“Mate, it has been an absolute disaster from the beginning,” he told presenter Jim Wilson.

“If the city has ambitions to be more pedestrian-friendly, I can hardly see how placing them in the middle of the footpath achieved this.

“I’m getting calls every day. It’s ridiculous.

“This morning, I woke up to text messages at 5am from a business owner in Chinatown, in Dickson Street, which is meant to be a pedestrian-friendly, alfresco dining precinct, and businesses can’t have tables and chairs out the front of the businesses because they’ve got these billboards.”

Harold Scruby, head of the Pedestrian Council lobby group, told the Sydney Morning Herald the billboards were bottle-necking walkers.

“They channel pedestrians into very narrow areas. You can’t walk with a partner, you’ve got to walk like a duck in single file,” he said.

“There should be no obstructions on a footpath.”

In an attempt to quell the discontent, City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said in a statement: “Some benefits require trade-offs.

“Our new suite of street furniture is modernising our streets while also providing significant revenue to the City, which will help us maintain high quality services and public spaces for our residents, businesses and visitors,” she said.

The City of Sydney’s 20-year-contract with JCDecaux expired in June 2020. After that, the City entered into a fresh 10-year contract with QMS Media which has spent the last two years replacing its predecessor’s infrastructure.

Mr Gannon said that while QMS Media paid for the rollout, the council forked out $185,000 in extra fees.

Sydney’s Lord Mayor has even acknowledged the billboards will, at times, require pedestrians to walk in single file to get around them. Picture: Twitter/@TheSydneyBlog

Ms Moore said the overall value of the 10-year contract with QMS was worth up to $450 million.

“This is an important income stream for the city, which helps fund our extensive capital works, social environment programs while keeping rates among the lowest in the Metropolitain area,” she said.

According to Lord Mayor, the City’s Design Advisory Panel worked with QMS Media for months on the new designs she said were compliant with design standards and accessibility requirements.

She conceded that some may require people to walk around, but that it was nothing new.

“Yes, they are quite large in some locations – as was the case with the old telephone-mounted panels – you may have to walk single file,” she said.

Other pictures circulating showed the billboards next to Telstra phone booths, with the advertiser’s messaging effectively blocked by the booth.

“Telstra determine the location of their payphones, and under the Federal Telecommunications Act are not required to consult with community or seek approval from councils or other authorities – no matter how little they are used,” Ms Moore said.

As well as the horizontal panels which have caused a stir, the “suite of furniture” includes bus shelters, kiosks and automated public toilets.

The bus stops, fitted with electronic displays of their own, have also drawn complaints.

“I’ve been getting complaints about a bus stop on Castlereagh Street. And what’s happened is they put the bus stop the wrong way around so people can’t see through the billboards to see if the bus is coming,” Mr Gannon said.

“Imagine if it’s raining and you’ve got an elderly person there, they’re going to stick their head out in the rain to see if the bus is coming. It’s ridiculous.”