Last year Luxembourg announced plans to become the first country to make all public transit free by 2020. With barely over 600,000 citizens and over 180,000 commuters, Luxembourg is a perfect test case for free public transit.

The policy is intended to relieve traffic congestion, and a spokesperson for the Ministry of Mobility and Public Works told CNN “The country at this very moment is in really good shape. We, the government, want the people to benefit from the good economy.”

When I read this quote, I couldn’t help but think of the round of impending IPOs that are about to rock San Francisco’s economy. I wondered what our government will do to ensure the people of San Francisco benefit from our growing economy.

I wondered what’s stopping the city that made college free for all residents from making efficient, effective transportation free for all residents.

From 2013–2017 San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency collected between $197,200,000 and $220,100,000 in passenger fares. Muni also loses several million dollars a year on fare evasion enforcement that would be saved if fares were eliminated altogether.

So making public transportation free for all residents without cutting roughly $200 million of spending somewhere else in the budget would mean finding a new revenue source for at least $200 million a year. Past ballot initiatives highlight numerous potential revenue sources — the transfer tax on properties worth over $5 million and the gross receipts tax on gross receipts over $50 million could both be raised.

Given the potential volatility of the revenue source, a reserve fund and delayed implementation by a year or two would be prudent. Of course that is just one of many details that would need to be hammered out before an initiative could be drafted.

The bottom line is, this is entirely doable, it just requires sufficient political will. If you think it’s a good idea, let me know and let’s make it happen.