TRANSPORT for London (TfL) has rubber-stamped its revised five year business plan which will see £10billion spent on projects in the capital.

Although the company is up-beat, the plan has been trimmed because of a shortfall in estimated government subsidies and buses could be the biggest loser.

According to a report Mayor Ken Livingstone said earlier in the year: "TfL had not secured the extra revenue resources that its successful track record merited and would face some difficult decisions in finalising its business plan."

London's bus network, which has made great strides in recent years, is not likely to see the levels of investment outlined in TfL's business plan. The plan was approved at a Tfl board meeting on Wednesday.

Recent figures show that the average London bus carries 14 people at any one time, a third more than the national average.

According to the mayor, the figure rose by 20 per cent since the transformation of London buses started in 2000.

A spokesman for TfL said that although improvements to the network were still planned, "You are not going to see the rapid growth that we have seen over the past few years because a lot of the work has already been done.

"We still have passenger growth estimated at seven per cent for the next couple of years and we carry around six million passengers a day."

The congestion charge expansion into West London will go ahead, subject to a public consultation, as will the modernisation of over 200 underground stations.

TfL also gave its full support to giving London the infrastructure needed for the 2012 Olympic bid.

Bob Kiley, London's Transport Commissioner said: "Following our ground-breaking agreement with government earlier this year we finally have the ability to plan ahead for the next five years and begin the essential work necessary to deliver much needed improvements to our transport system."

Mr Kiley added: "Hard decisions had to be taken on both spending priorities and fares in developing this plan, but we can now build on our achievements over the past four years with a balanced, fully-costed and deliverable programme which will benefit those who live in, work in and visit London."