Mayor told his £1.7bn cuts will mean fewer buses and axed routes

Commuters were today warned they faced cuts to bus services after Boris Johnson disclosed he was slashing £1.7 billion from his transport budget.

The Mayor intends the budget cut to be part of £5 billion "efficiency savings" from his Tube and bus budget which he announced last month.

But he was challenged today over the £1.7billion figure which threatened to hit the capital's bus system hard. The number of buses are likely to be reduced on some of the busiest services, while some routes could be dropped entirely.

Labour attacked the cuts, revealed at the Mayor's question time today.

London Assembly member Val Shawcross said: "Far from being painless efficiency savings that we will barely notice, the Mayor's cuts are actually going to hit commuters hard and bus users the hardest.

"Reducing funding to the buses will mean rising fares while cutting the number of buses on the roads will inevitably lead to a poorer, less reliable service. We all want to see an end to wasteful spending, but this shouldn't be at the expense of bus users who are set to pay more for less under this Mayor."

Mr Johnson denied there would be significant cuts to services.

Mr Johnson said: "What I don't want to do is see significant reduction in London's bus coverage because it's been a great success and we support it."

But this month Peter Hendy, the transport commissioner, said some buses could run less frequently. Routes that could be hit include the 28 from Wandsworth to Kensal Rise and the 31 from Shepherd's Bush to Camden Town. TfL was unable to rule out cutting entire routes.

The £1.7 billion would be made in bus subsidy cuts until 2017. Mr Johnson will also take £1.1 billion from projects such as dial-a-ride and cycling schemes. Last month he announced £2.4 billion cuts by axing staff and changing computer systems. He claimed to be able to slash a quarter of non-operational costs from TfL without losing frontline jobs.

TfL later said no specific plans had been made yet.

A TfL spokesperson said: "Transport for London is committed to continuing to provide one of the most extensive, frequent, reliable and accessible bus networks anywhere in the world.

"Any changes to services will only be marginal and there are no plans in place to cut any specific bus routes."