Uber drivers are among those who face paying an extra £3,000 a year each to operate in London even if the company keeps its licence, The Sunday Times has learnt.

Transport for London (TfL), the regulator, plans to force private-hire vehicles to pay the £11.50-a-day congestion charge because of concern that the proliferation of minicabs is choking streets and emptying bus services. If Uber shoulders the payments, it could cost the company between £20m and £60m a year.

At a meeting of licensing and enforcement officers in Leeds this month Tom Moody, head of policy for taxis at TfL, said the authority would propose the move within months. “We will be looking at the congestion charge potentially for private hire [vehicles],” he said. “In summer next year we will likely be consulting on that and other policies.”

It is understood that the “other policies” being considered by Sadiq Khan, London’s mayor, include extending the charge from 6pm until 11pm or midnight and applying it on Saturdays for the first time.

Congestion and Uber competition have caused sharp drops in bus use. According to a presentation to the TfL board, passenger numbers have fallen 5.6% in two years, creating a £100m hole in the authority’s coffers. In big cities outside London, bus use is down 4%.

London night buses have seen a dramatic “Uber effect”, with usage on some routes falling by up to 20% a year even before the night Tube started, TfL figures show. Cuts are being made on dozens of routes as a result.

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