Since the order to avoid going outside unless essential, and avoid travel, passengers numbers on London’s trains have plunged by 95 percent, while bus passengers are down by 85 percent.

According to TfL numbers, around 162,000 unique payment cards – either contactless or Oyster – were used on Tube and rail services across London on Wednesday 1st April. This compares to around two million unique payments cards used on the same services on a typical day.

On the London Underground, including all other tickets, where there was previously around four million journeys per day at this time last year, TfL is now just seeing around 210,000 journeys per day on the Tube.

Reports of some overcrowding in the past week were put down to one instance of a train failure, and also some changed travel habits as people spread out their journey times so that the rush hour started earlier than usual.

For those who do need to travel, TfL has introduced a range of measures to encourage social distancing.

On the Tube, these measures include playing regular announcements over the PA system, displaying a red social distancing poster and, at the busier stations, installing two-metre floor markings on platforms.

To improve hygiene for essential travellers, the stations, trains and buses are being cleaned daily with an anti-viral disinfectant that provides enhanced protection, with all regularly-touched areas, such as poles and doors, carefully wiped down.

Andy Lord, Managing Director of London Underground said: “This is crucial to stop the spread of coronavirus. Our services are for essential journeys by vital workers in the NHS and other critical services and our staff are working hard to support them and protect all Londoners. Please help them and continue to follow the instruction not to travel for as long as it takes to defeat coronavirus. Stay Home, Don’t Travel, Save Lives.”