The Emirates Air Line cable car service championed by London Mayor Boris Johnson was used by just four regular commuters during a week in October.

Figures from a Freedom of Information request show the Emirates Air Line service between Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks had just four Oyster card holders using it more than five times a week, triggering the regular users’ discount.

The number of weekly users in the second week of October had dropped from 23,000 compared to 42,500 for the same week in 2012, the Evening Standard reported.

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The £60m cable car scheme, which opened for use in June 2012, does not accept Travelcards and Freedom Passes, and Oyster card holders are charged £3.20 for a one way journey. The figures, obtained by 853blog.com showed only 18 multi-trip passes were purchased, compared with 41 from the year before.

On Sunday, the busiest day for the the cable cars, 6,300 people used it, compared with 42,500.

Caroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group branded the number of commuters regularly using the service as "pitiful". She added: "It is also clear that the cable car can’t generate enough passengers and income from one off visitors, including tourists.

"Having poured so much public money into the cable car the Mayor should now finally accept that the only way it will generate a reasonable number of regular passengers is by becoming an integral form of public transport. People with a Freedom Pass or a travelcard should not be charged at all and the standard fare for a person with an Oyster card should be the same as a bus fare."

Transport for London told the Standard the service had been used by almost three million people since it was opened to the public. “Passenger numbers fluctuate due to a wide range of factors from week to week, however overall numbers this year are in line with forecasts.