Utter the digits 846 to a group of angry bus passengers across Bradford and you will get a concerned frown and a despairing shake of the head.

Because for many who use the service, 846 is not a number and not even a bus, but a way of life and a friend who calls by to whisk them off to the shops or to work.

But now the route between Buttershaw and Shipley is under threat and people who rely on the half-hourly service are up in arms.

Anyone who doubts the strength of feeling need only travel along the route and speak to those who use the service to go to Morrisons at Five Lane Ends, to access the market in Shipley or to get into the city centre.

Pensioner Ronald Wright is so angry he is taking a campaign on the road to save the threatened service.

The 64-year-old, of Bedale Drive, Buttershaw, said he uses the service at least four times a week and if it was scrapped it would leave many elderly people stranded.

"There are lots of elderly people who use it from the Buttershaw end," he said.

"If it goes, it means they will be stranded - either that or have to climb up a big hill to the next-nearest stop."

Mr Wright has already collected more than 250 signatures by riding up and down the 846 route getting support from passengers.

"Not one of them has refused to sign it," he said.

Mr Wright plans to send his petition once complete to Windhill ward councillor Philip Thornton - himself a bus driver -- who has pledged his support to saving the 846.

First bus company chiefs have admitted they are looking at the feasibility of the service because it was not making enough money.

Its operations director Khadim Hussain admitted it could be cut - but not without proper consultation first.

He also said the 846, which covers the area with the 845 off-peak service, was mainly used by pensioners who since April have been able to take advantage of free rides and he confirmed there were funding issues.

No decision has been made as yet and Metro, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, would have to be consulted.

Mr Wright started up his petition after reading Coun Thornton's appeal in the Telegraph & Argus for passengers to get together to try to save the route and get a campaign going.

Coun Thornton said: "I'm absolutely delighted there are so many people getting in touch to complain about the suggested scrapping of this service.

"There are also petitions going on in Wrose and in the Five Land Ends area which shows the tremendous amount of support for keeping it. I hope that First will take due notice."

'I can't walk to get an alternative bus'

Lillian Smith, of Bedale drive, Buttershaw, was horrified when she heard of plans to axe the service which stops a short distance from her front door.

The 78-year-old, who suffered a stroke aged 38 and has had four heart attacks since, would find it almost impossible to access public transport without the 846 bus she has come to rely on.

Without the service, the angina sufferer would be faced with a daunting walk up the steep hill to Beacon Drive where an alternative bus service operates.

She said: "I can't climb that hill to get the other bus because I have got a bad heart.

"I dare not walk down for the bottom bus either because the walk would take me right through the estate where there have been problems with drugs and crime."

Mrs Smith said the 846 bus was a lifeline for her and many other people in the neighbourhood.

She said she used the service for regular hospital visits and to go into Bradford city centre every Thursday for her shopping.

She said: "We have got no shops here so we go into town. My daughter is disabled and she uses it all the time.

"It's going to be a blow for people around here - not just the disabled and old people. My friend uses it every day to go to Shipley because she works in Shipley. There's no real alternative apart from taxis and that's so expensive."

'Cut would make job so hard'

Paul Brame, who runs a confectionery stall in Shipley market place, said loss of the 846 service would deal another blow to traders in Shipley.

He said a large proportion of his customers came into Shipley on the service to visit the market every Friday.

Mr Brame, 53, said more than 70 per cent of people who visited his market stall were pensioners who relied on the bus services to get to Shipley.

"It will have a huge effect if this service goes," he said.

"Everything that's happening seems to be adverse to what Shipley really needs.

"First they give pensioners the right to travel free on the bus and then they axe the service which they use to get to Shipley. They are giving with one hand and taking away with the other.

"By axing the service, they are not giving old people the chance to get to Shipley and that obviously won't do Shipley any good either.

"It makes this job so hard when they are talking about taking away a huge chunk of your custom.

"The bus service they are talking about brings the old people right onto our doorstep. It's so convenient for them."

Proposals to move the buses out of Shipley town centre and send them to a purpose-built integrated transport interchange cut off by the busy main road was also a worry to market traders, said.

'Elderly people rely on this service'

Sheila Rosconie, of Northdale Mount, regularly boards the bus on nearby Carr Bottom Road, in Bank Foot, for a variety of journeys.

"The beauty of the service is that you can go a short distance or a long distance," said the 71-year-old.

"I use it to go into Bradford because it drops you in a convenient place which is handy because Bradford is so full of hills. You can also go all the way into Shipley on the same service if you fancy going a bit further.

"It's absolutely ideal for people like me. A lot of elderly people use it and lots of them rely a lot on it.

"Quite a few people I have spoken to are talking about the news that they are planning to get rid of this service.

"I have heard it said that it's not cost-effective because it's mostly old people who use it but I thought it was the case that the bus company got paid the money back.

"I use it twice a week and my sister uses it about four times a week. Elderly people rely on it and we were sickened when they said they were going to take it off."

Mrs Rosconie said she had the option to walk a little further to catch the 268 Dewsbury bus into Bradford but said others, who faced a longer walk than her, would be worse hit.

We won't be able to get to Morrisons'

Betty Darrington, 76, of Wrose, said she would not be able to get to the Morrisons store at Five Lane Ends or into Shipley without the service.

Mrs Darrington, of Bodmin Road, a five-minute walk from the main road, said the bus was very convenient because it stopped in nearby Cotswold Avenue.

She said: "It's every 30 minutes so you just get used to it being there. You can go right through to Bradford or just into Shipley, so it's very useful. The bus goes to Morrisons and a lot of people are worried that they won't be able to get there.

"I don't know how we would get there - taxi perhaps, but that would be very expensive.

"Either that or we would have to walk down onto Wrose Road to get another bus, but the bad weather is coming and not many people want to walk back up with shopping bags in the wind and rain.

"Some people who get the bus use walking sticks or have heart problems so they couldn't walk that distance anyway.

"We really want to keep it going if we can. I have written to Councillor Thornton. We are told that the route is not cost effective because it's mostly old people who use it and we don't have to pay. But I thought that First were remunerated by the Government.

"Anyway, most of us would be prepared to pay and would be quite happy to do so. When free travel came in, a lot of pensioners shrugged their shoulders and were quite embarrassed about the idea."

e-mail: will.kilner@bradford.newsquest.co.uk