"What we're going to do with customers is give them a bit of time to adjust. So when that service starts running on day one, people can keep doing what they're doing now in terms of buses," he said. However, Mr Staples said the public could expect, over the longer term, fewer buses running directly from suburbs such as Rouse Hill directly to the central city; instead, more of them would be focused on providing a link to the metro train stations. The prospect of trains running along the rail line every four minutes during peak hours was "ideal for interchange" because it meant passengers would not be left waiting on platforms for long periods, he said. "For some people, there will be more interchange than maybe what they've been used to. But at the same time, they are not running on a motorway where there's risk of traffic congestion," he said.

"If you want to get from Rouse Hill to Central [station in the CBD] at the moment, just getting through the city on a bus is very busy. So you have to look at the total journey." Once the first stage of the metro project opens in May, the time taken to travel by rail from Tallawong station at Rouse Hill to the CBD is estimated at 57 minutes. The rail trip will require commuters to change trains at Chatswood or Epping stations. But when trains begin running along the second stage of the metro line to the CBD and onwards by 2024, the journey time is estimated to be about 48 minutes. A driverless metro train at the new Tallawong Station in Sydney's north west. Transport Minister Andrew Constance said bus services in the north west would not be cut, rather the intention was to operate more to the new train stations. "We have the benefit of Opal data and the aim is to put more services in, not less, in terms of transport options for the people of the north west," he said.

Loading "The growth in the city means people do have to interchange like every other global city. What we want to do is make it easy and that is why we have done that with the $2 transfer discount built into the transport ticket." Adult Opal card holders receive the $2 discount when they switch modes of public transport, such as from a bus to a train, in a single journey and within an hour of their last tap off. Seniors, children, students and holders of Opal concession cards get a $1 discount on their journey. But Labor's candidate for the seat of Epping, Alan Mascarenhas, said residents in the north west were concerned that there would be a significant reduction of direct bus services to the central city. "The people right on the rail line will really benefit but these are big suburbs and people live an hour's walk from it. They would rather keep the existing door-to-door Hillsbus," he said.