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London's transport chief has issued an alert at falling numbers of bus and cycling journeys and greater use of cars.

Transport for London commissioner Mike Brown revealed his concern after figures showed an overall decline in public transport trips since April.

There were 930 million Tube, bus and train journeys in the first quarter of 2018/19, eight million fewer than the same period a year ago and nine million down on budget. TfL said this was because the economy “remains very subdued”.

Pan-London traffic volumes were up 0.8 per cent - the second successive annual rise.

The number of cycling trips, which are measured in calendar years, “slowed” between January and March. TfL attributed this to March being “exceptionally cold” with snow and the wettest March since 1981.

Mr Brown said: “There have been fewer people cycling and using public transport, and increased private car journeys - something we don’t want to see.”

Bus journeys, at 521 million, were two per cent, or nine million trips, down on the previous year and 11 million below budget.

Increased road congestion has been affecting bus reliability and the annual increase in Travelcards increased average bus fares.

A report to the TfL board said: “Lower Travelcard, bus pass and pay-as-you-go [Oyster] journeys were only partly offset by growth in contactless journeys. We are currently investigating the cause of this decline.”

Tube journeys were up from 312m to 314 million but TfL said last year’s figures were artificially low due to the Grenfell tower fire, Westminster and London Bridge terror attacks and General Election. When these were factored in, there was a 0.2 per cent year-on-year fall in trips.