Extra trains have been introduced on the Piccadilly line at evenings and weekends, Transport for London (TfL) announced today.
The number of trains per hour in each direction on Saturdays has risen from 21 to 24 between midday and 5pm. There are also an extra three trains an hour on the line during weekday evenings, until just before 11pm.
TfL said the changes to the timetable, which came into effect on May 18, were introduced because weekend demand from shoppers, tourists and regular travellers meant the Piccadilly line was nearly as busy on Saturday afternoons as during weekday peaks.
The extra services, which also include more peak hour trains on the Jubilee line, were announced as London Underground published its end-of-year figures.
It carried 1.265 billion passengers during 2013/14, an increase of 36 million on the previous year and 33 per cent up on 2004.
A passenger group last year called for a cut in train fares to Heathrow to reduce overcrowding on the Piccadilly line , which serves Ealing, Hounslow, Hammersmith, Harrow and Uxbridge.
London Underground's managing director Mike Brown said: "It is amazing that the underground is carrying a third more customers now than it did only ten years ago, and customer demand shows no signs of letting up.
"We know that London will see a rise in its population of more than a million people by 2031 – that’s the equivalent to a city the size of Birmingham.
"The service increases we've introduced on the Jubilee and Piccadilly lines are just the latest step in our plans to deliver a modern Tube for London, with air-conditioned trains now operating on four lines, new signalling allowing us to run more trains on the Jubilee and Victoria lines and on the Northern line later this year, and bigger and more accessible stations at major interchanges."
TfL claims this work, which was originally due to be completed this year, will increase capacity by 60 per cent, allowing the line to carrying an extra 20,000 passengers an hour.
