As the MTA prepares this week to reveal just how much riders will have to pay for MetroCards when the January fare hike hits, advocates are urging New Yorkers to make their voices heard at the transit agency and in Albany, where they say lawmakers have shortchanged commuters. NY1's John Mancini filed the following report.

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.

On Monday, the MTA continued to brief board members, riders groups and civic leaders on the fare plan. Options to be discussed at the board meeting Wednesday are said to include raising a monthly MetroCard from $89 to $100, and limiting the number of rides you can take on the now-unlimited card. Another proposal would add $1 to the cost of a new card.

While advocates urge New Yorkers to put lawmakers under pressure, it's clear when you speak to riders there's a lot of skepticism about the MTA itself.

"You can't trust them. Because I ride the subway, and they already cut the services. They move the token booth. The train comes like every 12 minutes in rush hour. I mean people are out of jobs. How much more can you take as a New Yorker?" said one straphanger.

"I think there's ways of cutting money besides just keep hiking fares, hiking fares, hiking fares. They need to get better fiscal responsibility," said another.

The size and scope of the fare hike won't be locked in until after public hearings sometime this fall. The forums are expected to be authorized by the MTA board on Wednesday.