SAN FRANCISCO — The California Public Utilities Commission served startup company, Leap Transit a cease-and-desist order on May 11 for running its luxury bus line without a permit, SFGate reported.

Leap announced on Tuesday that it has temporarily suspended service (see below). Before the shutdown, Leap was in the process of obtaining a permit from the commission.

The startup was recently granted what’s known as the “authority to operate” — a precursor to an official license. But by driving its route between the Marina district and the Financial District without a license, regulators determined that Leap was breaking the law, according to SFGate.

For the full story, click here.

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.