Sydney Metro chief executive Peter Regan said patronage on the Metro Northwest line took a “big hit” like the rest of the city’s rail network during the pandemic,but was now well above pre-COVID levels.

“It is growing pretty strongly now. We’ll see a big jump when the next stage opens because you’ll then get that through connection[to the CBD],” he said.

Regan said patronage was growing the most during “non-traditional times” for travel on public transport such as the middle of the day and on weekends.

“People are clearly changing their trip patterns. And the whole transport network is still sort of bending down to the fact that people travel differently. There’s much less Monday to Friday,nine-to-five travel,” he said.

The city section of the new metro line comprises six underground stations,including atNorth Sydney,Barangaroo andMartin Place,as well as new platforms at Central and Sydenham.

The agency is forecasting more than 264,000 passenger trips between Tallawong and Sydenham each weekday after the extended line opens in early August. Trains will operate on the line from 4.08am to 1.20am Monday to Thursday;4.08am-2.20am on Fridays and Saturdays;and 4.08am-11.50pm on Sundays.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen said she wanted public transport to be more than just a service that people used to get to and from work.

“A turn-up-and-go service like metro gives us a chance to start flattening the peak and begin making public transport the default option that people will want to use to do things like the shopping,” she said.

Alexandria residents Edward Beesley and Fiona McEwan,who have rented a property in the inner-city suburb for the past eight years,mostly use trains and buses to travel around Sydney because they do not own a car.

Beesley said the new metro would make it easier to get to the city’s north. “You might find it takes you to places you haven’t been before,” he said.

However,he is worried that businesses near the newWaterloo metro station have relocated to other suburbs because landlords have increased rents ahead of the line’s opening. “They have gotten greedy,” he said.

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