It is one of the city's public transport nodes, housing an interchange station for tram and bus lines run by the Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich.

Central is in fact outside of the historical core of the medieval town of Zürich, previously the Celtic-Roman Turicum.

[2][3] Leonhardsplatz, as it was known then, first became a node in Zürich's transport system in 1889, when the Polybahn funicular was opened up the hill to the Polytechnikum, the present ETH Zurich.

In 1897, the Strassenbahn Zürich-Oerlikon-Seebach (ZOS) company made Leonhardsplatz the city terminus of their suburban tram line via Stampfenbachstrasse and Schaffhauserstrasse to Oerlikon and Seebach.

[6] Private road transport towards Limmatquai, the largest pedestrian zone of Zurich, is restricted to the short roadway towards the Brun bridge and Uraniastrasse (Urania Sternwarte) at the site of the former Oetenbach nunnery.