Transit Advocates Launch "Riders' Rebellion" Campaign

Straphangers may need to take a page from the songbook of folks like David Daniels, who carries his own amp as he plays reggae and the blues and passes the hat on the subway. Advocates say it's time to pump up the volume if riders want to reduce the pain of the potential 7.5 percent fare hike coming down the track next year.

"We will be asking riders to sign a riders' bill of rights. This bill of rights outlines exactly what the state should be doing for the region's eight million subway and bus riders -- affordable fares, clean safe, accessible stations. These are the types of things that riders should be getting for their fare money and they're not," said Paul Steely White of Transportation Alternatives.

The "Riders' Rebellion" campaign aims to take the ongoing fight to Albany.

"The villain here is not the MTA. In many ways they are as much the victim as the riders are. They had $143 million cut from their budget and, as a result, their customers were hit with the worst service cuts in decades. So asking the riders to pay more for less is wrong, but it's not the MTA's fault," said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign.