Following regulatory charges by the state of California, Leap, the luxury bus service, is temporarily suspended.
Leap Transit announced on Tuesday, it has temporarily gone out of service after being served cease-and-desist papers by the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates privately owned electric, natural gas, telecommunications, water, railroad, rail transit, and passenger transportation companies, on May 11.
Prior to the infringement notice, Leap was in the process of obtaining its official permits. Thus far, the luxury bus company only received an “authority to operate,” the paperwork that precedes the official license. However, by operating service between the Marina district and the Financial District without an official license, the state deemed Leap in breach of state laws.
The notice reads, “This letter places you on notice to cease and desist immediately all advertisers and operations as a for hire passenger carrier without a valid authority in force with the California Public Utilities Commission (Commission). Continued violations of the law may results in criminal prosecutions.”
Leap failed to adhere to safety regulations such as filing proof of workers compensation insurance, drug and alcohol testing for its drivers, and public liability and property damage insurance.
As a result Leap, has released a statement via its social media handles. The company said, “Leap will be offline at least through the end of this week as we work through a regulatory issue. We embarked on a fairly complex regulatory process nearly a year ago and we’ve cleared many hurdles along the way, including the unanimous approval of Leap’s operating authority under the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in March. However, the finalization of this permitting process has been held up due to various clerical issues and we have now been issued a Cease and Desist notice from the PUC. While we believe that our service is in full compliance with all state and local laws, we have decided to halt operations until we clear this final hurdle. We know that this is extremely frustrating for you and–believe us–it kills us to do so. The timing certainly couldn’t be worse given our May pricing promotion, so if you have recently purchased a ride pack and would like to be refunded for your unused rides, you can do so by emailing support@leaptransit.com. We hope to be back on the road in no time, but we will email you as soon as we have any new information or updates. Thank you for your incredible support. We’ll see you soon.”
The luxury bus featured amenities such as plush leather seats, a social perimeter for mingling with fellow passengers, seats for book reading, a laptop bar, WIFI, USB ports as well as snacks and beverages.
(Photo via Leap)
