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City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio mobilized volunteers at 20 different subway stations to hand out flyers, asking commuters to voice their displeasure about the proposed cuts to their representatives in Albany.

The MTA has proposed eliminating the M and W subway lines and scaling back G train service. Dozens of bus routes are also on the chopping block.

"I know the MTA is doing all kinds of things people wish they weren't, cutting services, and I know they have budget problems, but this seems like the wrong place,” said one straphanger.

"Down the road, if [my daughter couldn’t take the subway for] free, I certainly wouldn't be for that," said another.

The most contentious proposal is the elimination of free student MetroCards. Students would have to pay half the fare by next September and the full fare by September 2011.

Critics say the budget should not be balanced on the backs of students.

"I hate to say it, I'm not trying to offer a doomsday prediction, but let’s face, it we have an attendance problem as it is," said the public advocate. "If you take away that free mode of transportation, it's not going to make it better, it's going to make it worse.”

Governor David Paterson has said he will work to find funding for student MetroCards.

The public will have a chance to weigh in on the MTA cuts in March hearings. If the MTA board votes to implement the change, they would take effect by the middle of this year.