A packed forum at Sydney’s Town Hall on Monday night overwhelmingly endorsed plans for a light rail line down George Street, and rejected a proposed underground bus tunnel through the city.

The forum, organised by the City of Sydney council, tackled the two and competing plans for the city sitting before the O’Farrell government: a tram line versus the bus tunnel put forward by Infrastructure NSW and its chairman Nick Greiner.

"We need to activate George Street, not take people off it ... We’ve got a beautiful city. I don’t want to go underground" ... chief executive of Merivale, Justin Hemmes. Credit:Remi Bianchi

A show of cards at the forum, which was attended by about 700 people, showed almost unanimous support for the light rail proposal, while the bus tunnel met with ridicule from industry lobbies and experts.

The vote followed a panel discussion featuring, among others, the Infrastructure Australia board member and professor of sustainability at Curtin University, Peter Newman, and the lord mayor, Clover Moore.