The bus carried 21 passengers – around half its capacity – for the inaugural journey down the highway.

The Orange coach will depart Orange Railway Station at 4.50am, connecting with the Bathurst Bullet at 5.49am to get passengers into Sydney at 9.27am – 47 minutes earlier than previous connections from Orange allowed. 

Phil Stevenson, who used his Bullet train trip as an opportunity to do some sightseeing around  Sydney Harbour, said he planned to use the service next time he had to fly out of Sydney airport.

“I couldn’t really fault the trip,” he said. “Once word gets out hopefully there will be more people using it.”

Mr Stevenson said by the time the Bullet left Katoomba most seats were taken. 

Dr Peter Bilenkij, who along with Mr Stevenson has been a long-time advocate of the service, said his trip was “comfortable and smooth”.

He said the fact the bus was half full was “a good sign of things to come”.

“I hope that this will also lend weight to efforts to house the train in Orange overnight, rather than Lithgow,” he said.

Dr Bilenkij said the new service would allow travellers to attend appointments in Sydney with ease and return to Orange within the day.

Member for Orange Andrew Gee said it was good to see a strong roll-up on the first day of service.

“It just goes to show you that the demand is there, even on a cold winter’s morning in Orange,” he said.

“It’s a fantastic start that’s exceeded my expectations and I’m hoping we can build on this as more and more people hear about the new service.”

The return service will depart Sydney at 5.52pm, arriving at Bathurst at 9.35pm and departing the Bathurst station for Orange at 9.40pm, arriving in Orange at around 10.55pm.

Mr Gee said the connection to the metropolitan train network at Bathurst means fares are reduced by around 40 per cent. An adult one way ticket is expected to cost $16.87 to $20.33 depending on seasonal fares, pensioners will pay $8.27 with children and students paying $10.17.