A new report from the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) has found seven in 10 Sydneysiders would go out more often if 24-hour public transport were available, while more than a third say police and security make them feel intimidated.

The findings come from the NightPulse 2026 Report, an independent study commissioned by the NTIA with the support of the City of Sydney and conducted by Lonergan Research. The study surveyed 1000 Greater Sydney residents in March and April 2026 and was complemented by in-depth interviews with leading Sydney venue operators.

While the report shows cautious improvement across visitation, value-for-money perceptions and views of Sydney’s live music and cultural offering, two structural barriers continue to hold the night-time economy back: access to late-night transport, and a policing model that consumers and operators alike describe as out of step with a modern hospitality city.

NTIA CEO Mick Gibb said: “Sydneysiders are telling us they want to go out more, and they are telling us exactly what’s stopping them. It’s not a lack of appetite, it’s a lack of trains after midnight and a policing culture that still treats a night out as a problem to be managed rather than an experience to be supported.

“This is the second consecutive year that more than a third of Sydneysiders have told us they find police and security guards intimidating. That number is not moving, and it will not move until the way policing is delivered in nightlife settings is reformed.

“There are security providers leading the way in improving perceptions of security guards in  nightlife settings. However their efforts are stymied by inconsistent and excessive policing strategies.”

The research found:

• 70% of Sydneysiders would go out more often if 24-hour public transport were available, up from 69% in 2025
• 54% said they had recently decided not to go out at all due to transport accessibility and affordability
• 29% cited a lack of transport options as a reason they had felt unsafe in the City of Sydney at night over the past six months
• Train use to the city centre at night dropped from 58% in 2025 to 54% in 2026
• The share of Sydneysiders driving themselves into the city at night climbed from 28% to 32%.

“When the last train leaves at midnight, the night ends at midnight whether people want it to or not,” Gibb said. 

“Operators tell us bookings collapse the moment a train line is down, and patrons leave venues not because they want to, but because they have to. A 24-hour public transport trial across Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights is the single highest-impact thing the NSW Government can do for the night-time economy.”

NTIA is calling on the NSW Government to immediately trial 24-hour public transport on weekend nights using a ‘hub and spoke’ model that delivers patrons most of the way home before rideshare or taxis are required.

The NightPulse 2026 findings show that 36% of Sydneysiders find police and security guards intimidating, essentially unchanged from 35% in 2025. Demand for friendlier police and security has jumped five percentage points to 27%, and improved safety and lighting is now the second-highest motivator for going out more often, cited by 45% of Sydneysiders.

Many operators have described a policing culture they characterised as enforcement-first, with disproportionate scrutiny of compliant licensed venues and a tendency for police licensing engagement to drive patrons out of venues rather than reassure them.

“The lockout laws are gone, but the attitude that drove them is still embedded in how nightlife is policed,” Gibb said. 

“Our members are not asking for less policing. They are asking for a different kind of policing. One built on collaboration, de-escalation and hospitality, where police are a reassuring presence on the street rather than an intervention inside compliant venues.”

“The headline finding of this report is genuinely positive. Sydneysiders’ perception of diversity, inclusivity and the live music scene is improving year on year, and operators are being recognised for the investment they have made in quality. What’s holding the city back is structural, and it is fixable. Get the trains running and reform the policing model, and Sydney’s night-time economy will respond.”

NightPulse 2026 is available here.