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Suburban Londoners are getting back in their cars as demand for public transport suffers an “unprecedented” slowdown, it was revealed today.

The annual Travel in London report says that an increase in flexible working, with people swapping the office for the home, and the slow economy have left passenger numbers on Tubes, trains and buses static over the last three years.

Transport for London chiefs fear the impact this will have on already-tight revenues, with a “softening” of demand for Tube journeys and a greater decline in bus use, which is down 1.7 per cent year-on-year.

Despite this, the Underground did record its busiest day ever on November 29, with 5.054 million journeys. The following week was its busiest on record, with 30.1 million journeys.

Thursday’s report, which covers 2018, warns that traffic levels in outer London are up 0.5 per cent year-on-year but down 1.1 per cent in inner London and an additional 1.6 per cent in central London.

Cycling is at record levels, with more than four million km cycled a day for the first time. Cycling now accounts for 2.5 per cent of all daily trips in London.

Segregated cycleways, such as C23 in Lea Bridge Road, have seen the number of cyclists more than double.

Cycle journeys across the capital are up 160 per cent since TfL was formed in 2000. Across London, 63 per cent of journeys are walked, cycled or made by public transport, making the Mayor’s target of 80 per cent by 2041 look increasingly unachievable.

At present funding levels, TfL estimates that only 68 per cent of journeys will be made by public transport by 2041.

It warns of “widespread severe crowding” within the next two decades if money cannot be found for key upgrades, such as new signalling on the Piccadilly line, the postponed rebuilding of Camden Town and Holborn stations and major infrastructure projects such as Crossrail 2 and the Bakerloo line extension.

Alex Williams, TfL’s director of city planning, said: “In the last 10 years, London’s population has grown by over a million people.

“Over that time our strategy has been focused on encouraging more people to walk, cycle and use public transport rather than driving.

“This report highlights that this strategy has been successful, removing the equivalent of 2.9 million private vehicle trips from London’s roads each day.”