The taxi industry is under threat as consumers increasingly turn to Uber apps to book and pay for rides with the privately-held company.

Value capture

The NSW government is also increasingly assessing methods of "value capture" when considering business cases for new infrastructure projects, Mr Constance said. "Parramatta light rail will be the first major test."

Value capture involves adding extra taxes to land near big transport projects to capture the increase in value after the project is built.

The first stage of a proposed light rail through western Sydney to Parramatta is estimated to cost about $1.5 billion.

Mr Constance said the government was considering a range of value capture options, such as "betterment" levies, special infrastructure contributions and parking space levies, and would work closely with the development community.

"Ultimately, this about sharing the increased profit margin that is associated with development when we put the infrastructure projects in."

The state government was looking at ways of protecting a corridor for heavy rail to the new Western Sydney Airport, but any passenger rail line would need to be backed by "a sound business case," he said.

"We've got some fundamental threshold questions to be asked in terms of the timing and the best way to go."

An environmental impact statement released for the new airport this week called for additional transport options to be considered, including rail connections, with the Federal government indicating it was open to the idea of a direct,high-speed rail link to the airport as well as a heavy rail line.



Mr Constance ruled out introducing congestion charges in Sydney in the near term but noted the city's population would rise by about 1.6 million people over the next 15 years and said the city could not allow congestion to keep increasing at current rates.

"The Abbott government had a real focus on roads, I suspect the Turnbull government's going to have a real focus on passenger rail," he said.