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Commuters are feeling the heat as temperatures on London’s busy Tubes and buses hit “brutal” highs that it would be illegal to transport livestock in.

The Standard joined workers braving the capital’s key bus and tube routes at the height of rush hour yesterday, where temperatures on the Central line at Oxford Circus reached 34.8C and air humidity hit 45 per cent.

Bus passengers - who traditionally shun summer on the underground for cooler journeys at street level - fared even worse. Temperatures on some services hit 35.5C on the top deck – more than 5C hotter than the maximum 30C limit allowed for transporting cattle.

There will be little respite for travellers over the next few days. A high of 27C was predicted for today, with similar temperatures tomorrow and Saturday, before slightly cooler temperatures arrive on Sunday.

Transport for London today admitted it “still has much to do” to combat the summer misery for passengers but pledged that further improvements were on their way.

By 2016 it will have more than trebled the number of air-conditioned tube trains to cover 40 per cent of the network.

Two thirds of London’s 6,100 double decker buses now have upper-deck cooling systems.

But the improvement’s cannot come soon enough for the capital’s commuters.

On the route 10 bus from Oxford Circus to Hammersmith yesterday evening temperatures on the top deck hit 35.5C.

Jaclyn Fleurant, 21, a student at Oxford Street’s London College of Fashion, said: “It’s brutal. It’s sticky, it’s so uncomfortable.

“It makes me not want to wear make-up, because you get nicely made up and ready for the day, and then you just get so sweaty.”

Fellow student Ana Prodanovich, also 21, added: “It just makes you so much more stressed. I think the bus is better than the tube a lot of the time, but now it’s just so hot and uncomfortable.”

Sally Middlebrook, 26, a PA from Streatham, said: “I use the bus to travel from the house every day. This heat is horrible really, I can’t actually breathe.

“The air con doesn’t really seem to work. It’s very uncomfortable, makes you feel you don’t want to be on it and it makes you really lethargic.

“It just seems like they should have windows.”

Amal Choudary, 30, a full-time mother, said: “It doesn’t make any sense to not have windows and with the kids it’s the worst to be honest. Its really really hard, to be honest its just too hit sometimes. It’s disgusting, it’s sticky, sometimes people are smelly, it just doesn’t feel nice.”

Creon Taoself, 23, project manager, from central London, who was travelling on route 25 from Holborn to Oxford Street, where temperatures reached 33.5C, said: “The buses do get pretty hot, and especially the tubes in the morning without air con.

“You sweat on them and they’re pretty unbearable. The new Tubes are much better but the old ones are bad, just so many people using them.”

Those venturing underground were facing the familiar problem of packed rush-hour tubes coupled with rising temperatures and stifling humidity on the Central, Victoria and Northern lines.

Booking agent for models Charlotte Griffiths, 25, from Clapham Junction, was fanning herself on the Victoria Line to Vauxhall, she said: “It’s crowded, hot and uncomfortable. Every summer I go on the overground to escape the heat. At least there’s a breeze.”

Trainee accountant Lauren Hickson, 23, travelling between Euston and Oxford Circus on the Victoria Line, said: “It’s been boiling hot and so busy during rush hour, which doesn’t help. Everyone is hot and sweaty, there should be more air conditioning on the tubes. The Northern Line is by far the worst.”

Mayfair-based executive concierge Lisa Foster-Brown, 29, from Holborn, said: “I avoid the tube as much as possible in the summer. You stand in someone’s armpit, get squashed and don’t know what the man standing behind you is doing. It’s unpleasant and just heightens tensions.

“TfL should do something about it. We are not the best at coping with extreme weather in this country.”

German tourist Max Jakob, 23, from Stuttgart, said the problem is worse in London than in Berlin.

Heatwave London - in pictures 8 show all Heatwave London - in pictures 1/8 Enjoying the weather Three-month-old penguin chick Carnaby (Picture: Alex Lentati) Alex Lentati 2/8 Summer in London With the warm weather expected to continue into next week, Londoners and tourist cool off in Regents Park. Nancy Prynne, 7, staying in Shorditch during the summer holiday, enjoys the flowers in the park (Picture: Alex Lentati) 3/8 Summer in London (Picture: Alex Lentati) 4/8 Summer in London (Picture: Alex Lentati) 5/8 Summer in London (Picture: Alex Lentati) 6/8 Summer in London (Picture: Alex Lentati) . 7/8 Summer in London (Picture: Alex Lentati) 8/8 Summer in London (Picture: Alex Lentati) 1/8 Enjoying the weather Three-month-old penguin chick Carnaby (Picture: Alex Lentati) Alex Lentati 2/8 Summer in London With the warm weather expected to continue into next week, Londoners and tourist cool off in Regents Park. Nancy Prynne, 7, staying in Shorditch during the summer holiday, enjoys the flowers in the park (Picture: Alex Lentati) 3/8 Summer in London (Picture: Alex Lentati) 4/8 Summer in London (Picture: Alex Lentati) 5/8 Summer in London (Picture: Alex Lentati) 6/8 Summer in London (Picture: Alex Lentati) . 7/8 Summer in London (Picture: Alex Lentati) 8/8 Summer in London (Picture: Alex Lentati)

He said: “I came on the Central Line from Liverpool Street and it’s very crowded, I’m sweating heavily all over. It’s just so hot and stuffy in the trains.”

Retail worker Mina Blackburn, 27, from Bromley, got on the Central Line at Oxford Circus towards Stratford. She said: “It’s blazing hot. All tubes need air conditioning and proper vents as a minimum. I can’t believe that so many people are allowed on the tubes when it’s this hot because the body heat just makes it worse.”

Harrod’s worker Emma Ali, 23, from Essex, was on the Central Line towards Liverpool Street and said the heat had been “claustrophobic.” She added: “It’s worse than a sauna and the Central Line is by far the worst. There seems to be more delays when it’s hot and people get fed up a lot quicker. TfL need to do something about this, with all the money they seem to be investing in the underground, it should’ve been sorted by now.”

Transport chiefs said millions of pounds is being invested in keeping temperatures down but accepted there was still “much to do”.

David Waboso CBE, LU’s Capital Programmes Director, said: “We are investing millions to keep temperatures cool for passengers. New air conditioned trains are now operating on the Metropolitan, Circle, Hammersmith & City and are currently being rolled out on the Wimbledon to Edgware Road branch of the District line.

“By 2016, an air conditioned service of 191 trains will be in operation covering 40 per cent of the Tube network.

“But we know there is still much to do and cooling the other deeper lines of the Tube remains a considerable engineering challenge. However, we are making significant steps and Londoners should be assured that we are not complacent about finding solutions.

“We recently began the hunt to find suppliers to build the New Tube for London trains which will be energy efficient with walk-through carriages and provide air-cooling for the first time on the Piccadilly, Central, Bakerloo and Waterloo & City lines, bringing relief from heat to a total of eight out of LU’s 11 lines.”

Mike Weston, TfL's Director of Buses, said: "Our most recent testing show that temperatures on New Routemaster buses are the same as or cooler than those found on other double deck buses.

"The New Routemaster has a thermostatically-controlled air cooling system that, combined with fixed windows, make it easier to reduce temperatures. Just as with air conditioning systems in offices and cars, having opening windows would reduce the efficiency of the system.

"Refinements to the air cooling system have been made, since the introduction of New Routemasters to route 24 last year, to increase air flow on the upper and lower decks and on subsequent production vehicles.

"We must strike a balance between providing reasonable comfort in summer conditions and minimising exhaust emissions from the bus fleet. Installing full air conditioning systems on buses would dramatically increase harmful exhaust emissions."

Met Office forecaster Kirk Waite, 30, said although temperatures are set to cool off slightly, conditions will remain in the high 20s for the rest of the week.

He said: “There will still be plenty of blue sky and sunshine. This will continue into Friday and Saturday. Temperatures will gradually ease back slightly, but will be around the high 20s. It will be pleasantly warm and at times very warm.”