LONDON’S “publicity stunt” Mayor Boris Johnson was told yesterday to stop blowing millions on vanity projects and halt rocketing prices on the city’s cash-starved bus network.

Assembly Labour group transport spokeswoman Val Shawcross demanded a raft of measures including a £98 million fares freeze to “provide relief for London’s hard-pressed passengers.”

She warned that “TfL is increasingly being used by the mayor to fund schemes more akin to tourist attractions than transport projects.”

Mr Johnson has burnt through millions from taxpayer-funded Transport for London’s budget on abortive brainwaves such as “Boris island” — a new airport on the Thames estuary which was dismissed in favour of expanding Gatwick or Heathrow.

The failed £5m bid mirrors other gimmicks such as the Thames cable car and a £175m “garden bridge” across the river for which Mr Johnson has earmarked £30m.

But the cost of bus travel has risen by 47 per cent since his 2008 election.

While Mr Johnson has focused on publicity stunts, passengers paying more to travel “have had little return on their investment,” said Ms Shawcross.

Alongside a freeze on prices, which she said could easily be funded by projected income overruns, she demanded the introduction of a new one-hour ticket for buses.

And she urged an end to subsidy cuts which have reached 40 per cent since 2008, forcing up fares.