SF Mayor Brown wanted #freepublictransit in 1996

1996-11-20 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Mayor Brown is contemplating giving Muni passengers a free ride.
Brown said Tuesday that he had a dream - then knocked it down a notch to just an idea - "to make Muni free one of these days" for everyone.
In the meantime, he said, Muni officials and his budget staff are seriously looking into letting seniors, disabled people and kids under 16 ride the buses for free as early as next July.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Mayor-s-vision-Free-Muni-3111832.php