No one can fault the many transit advocates for not trying, however.

Even that figure made transit advocates nervous, but it is small compared with the proposal for the next five years.

But the prospects of those budget cuts have raised concerns among transit advocates.

Without knowing the price of the pass, transit advocates could not say whether it would necessarily be a better deal than the 12-for-10 proposal.

Transit advocates said these would be the most sweeping service cuts since the city's fiscal crisis of the mid-1970s.

Transit advocates are urging the state to move on.

Transit advocates fear a fare increase as a result.

Transit advocates said progress had been slow, in part because any decision involved coordination between separate government entities.

Transit advocates said it had been more than a decade since such extensive service cuts were contemplated.

But this reasoning does not satisfy commuters and transit advocates.