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London's mayor is to cut ^7.6bn from the budget of Transport for London (TfL) over the next seven years.

TfL had been planning a ^5bn "savings programme" but the RMT union has said it "defies belief" that the "cuts target" is being increased.

The savings include ^375m less for IT and a ^460m reduction in bus subsidies.

Mayor Boris Johnson said the cuts gave "value for money" but Labour rival Ken Livingstone said passengers' wallets were being "aggressively squeezed".

TfL has an annual budget of about ^9bn, and Mr Johnson said: "Through negotiations, savings and efficiencies, we have done what many believed to be impossible. The staggering ^7.6bn in savings and efficiencies TfL is making means that every penny will be spent on delivering and upgrading services for the capital, providing even better value for money to fare and taxpayers."

He added over the next four years three Tube lines will upgraded, new trains will be delivered to five lines, the London Overground rail network will be completed, major progress will be made on the Crossrail project, and the city's bike hire scheme will be extended.

But Mr Livingstone said the mayor's plans for transport "increasingly involve aggressively squeezing the farepayer, combined with cuts to funding for the bus service and cuts that must start to hit front-line services".

"Once again, broken promises are the order of the day," he said.

The RMT's general secretary, Bob Crow, said: "These new cuts will drag the underground even deeper into the spiral of decline with breakdowns, failures and disruption a daily fact of life. We can expect a threat to hundreds more jobs while maintenance takes another hit, turning the underground into a death trap and a criminals paradise."

But London's transport commissioner, Peter Hendy said the next four years would be "among the busiest and most exciting in the history of London's transport network".

He added that TfL would ensure it was "as efficient and effective as we can be through our ^7.6bn savings programme".