The people who drive the buses already have a union.

Now there's a movement afoot to create one for TTC riders.

In a week punctuated by token hoarding, a fare hike and a six-hour subway disruption comes the suggestion that a transit users' union is the better way to represent riders' frustrations and interests.

Riders unions already exist in cities as far-flung as Edmonton and Los Angeles, where about 3,000 transit riders actually pay dues to help ward off fare increases and improve service.

In New York the Straphangers Campaign, named for the way transit riders grip a strap or bar to avoid falling, issues influential reports on the cleanliness of subway stations and poorly performing bus routes.

This week's TTC fare hike could be the rallying point for a similar movement here, said John Cartwright, president of the Toronto & York Region Labour Council, a union coalition.

For disgruntled riders, boycotts don't appear to be the answer. A boycott organized on Facebook last week to protest the January hike had no visible impact.

Boycotts are not even an option for transit users who don't own cars and don't get paid if they don't go to work, Cartwright said.

"We can't ask people to boycott. Single parents coming down from Rexdale don't have a choice but to take transit," he said.

For Edward Lantz, who lives on a disability income, the January fare hike means $11 less each month for groceries.

"We know what's going on in regards to people on low incomes. They're having a hard time deciding whether to pay the rent - it's either rent or food - and now this added cost of the TTC pass is coming into play," said Lantz, chair of the St. James Town chapter of ACORN, another of the riders' union organizers. (The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now advocates for moderate and low-income families.)

"It's not only affecting people on the low-income scale, it's affecting what was once called the middle class," he said.

Organizers have already started a website called TTCRiders.ca. But they're loosely modelling their group on the Los Angeles Bus Riders Union.

Formed in 1991, the L.A. union has its roots in the American civil rights movement, said lead organizer Manuel Criollo.

The Bus Riders Union helped stop the Los Angeles transit authority from eliminating monthly bus passes and got the price reduced from $49 to $42, a fare it sustained for eight years, he said.

More recently, it has been pushing to divert road funds to transit, and in a refrain that will be familiar to Torontonians, it wants the federal government to chip in for a share of operating costs.

"When we had the first meeting, about 20 people showed up," Criollo said. "Now our reach is big. We haven't sat on our laurels. Most bus riders know who we are."

For a decade another group, Toronto's Rocket Riders, met as a caucus of the Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA). A kind of transit fan club, it went dormant about six months ago.

Now, with the TTC planning to build downtown-style streetcar service into the suburbs through its Transit City plan, the constituency of transit advocacy needs to change, said Katrina Miller, TEA campaigns director.

"We need a group that's much broader, that takes into consideration riders not just in the downtown but also in the suburbs," she said. "This new union would be focused on trying to represent all Toronto riders - those who are currently riding and those who want to use transit as a way of getting around."

Environmental concerns have created a pent-up demand for more and better transit, and politicians know that, Miller said.

"Ultimately though, the number one motivation is cost and convenience," she said. "If it's not affordable, convenient or reliable people aren't going to make the switch en masse."

WHERE RIDERS UNITED TO MAKE TRANSIT THE BETTER WAY

Here are three transit rider groups that have had an impact.

• Los Angeles Bus Riders Union: Founded out of concerns that funding for bus services crucial to low-income residents was being diverted to rail projects for middle-class suburban commuters.

Advocacy: Key victory was a legal fight to retain monthly passes. Won a lower pass price and standards for number of passengers allowed to stand on the bus. Pushes for more bus lanes; signal priority; diverting road funds to transit.

Funding: Mainly from public foundations, said organizer Manuel Criollo. Has about 3,000 dues-paying members, but is known to most of the 500,000 daily riders.

• New York Straphangers Campaign: Founded in 1979, it put itself on the map in 1980 by rating the city's 23 subway lines, according to staff attorney Gene Russianoff.

Advocacy: Makes headlines and influences policy by issuing reports on transit, from station cleanliness to its annual Pokey, Schleppy and Trekkie awards, naming the city's slowest, least reliable and longest bus routes. About 1,000 attend its town hall meetings, where riders air concerns to senior transit officials. $75 billion in improvements have boosted subway ridership from historic lows in 1981 to the highest level since 1950.

Funding: Mostly by private foundations. An annual appeal raises about $10,000 from the public.

• Transit Riders Union of Edmonton: Formed during 2007 local election, in which many candidates ran on a transit advocacy platform.

"I'd not had a great experience in transit," said founder Brendan Van Alstine, 25, a social worker who pulled together like-minded users to influence decisions on routes, urban sprawl and security.

Advocacy: Challenged politicians to walk the transit talk by riding the bus for a week. After Edmonton Transit released a growth strategy in 2008 without consulting riders, TRUE produced a "well received" shadow report pushing rush-hour and late-night service.