NORTH Oxford residents have started a campaign to save the bus route which users say is a “lifeline”.

The Number 17 bus, operated by Stagecoach Oxfordshire, is under threat after Oxfordshire County Council said it would consider withdrawing all of its bus subsidies.

The council is reviewing the subsidies in a bid to save £2.3 million between 2014 and 2018, as part of £6.3m of transport cuts.

It is part of wider savings the authority has planned, totalling £285m up to 2018.

But residents in Wolvercote, Cutteslowe and Jericho who use the route have now started a petition to protect it from the cull.

Grandmother-of-eight Yvonne Buck, of Jackson Road, Cutteslowe, said she and her friends used the 17 bus every day to travel to other parts of Oxford.

She said the bus allowed elderly people like herself to catch the service nearer to their homes, instead of having to walk from parts of Cutteslowe to Banbury Road.

The 75-year-old said: “It is a lifeline – we would be absolutely lost without it.

“I have used the bus every day since my husband Lester died six years ago, because it helps to keep me busy.

“It stops people from having to walk to Banbury Road, which if you are older can be a real struggle. There are people who would be left housebound, it would be tragic if they take it away.”

Sylvia Barker, who runs the seniors group at Cutteslowe Community Centre, added: “It would be an irreplaceable loss for the seniors, as it is the only means of transport for virtually all of them.”

The petition is being supported by Jean Fooks, county councillor for Wolvercote and Summertown.

She said: “This is a vital service for people who live some distance from any other bus service, many of whom are elderly.”

The county council first announced in May that it would be reviewing more than 100 subsidies paid to bus companies, which it provides to the firms for routes not considered “commercially viable” without support.

It currently pays bus companies £3.68m a year to run 105 county bus routes.

But in June it confirmed that the option of cutting not some, but all of the subsidies was an option set to be considered in a consultation on the changes.

Ian Hudspeth said this was because further government cuts were expected to be announced and subsidies would otherwise have to be revisited.

In its consultation documents the county council said: “The council needs to save more than £6m on supported transport services.

“We can save money by running existing services more efficiently, however that is not enough.”

The consultation runs until September 14 and can be found at consultations.oxfordshire.gov.uk

To sign the petition visit tinyurl.com/pnxllpe.