Riders of Leap, the Andreessen Horowitz-backed private bus service that vowed to save us all the able-bodied from Muni, are as of today being forced to ride among the plebeians.

The company, which identifies itself on Facebook as a "Computers/Technology" service, posted last night that it would suspend its buses as permitting has been "held up due to various clerical issues."

Oh, yeah, and they "have now been issued a Cease and Desist notice from the PUC." That, too.

Leap has been operating in a sort of regulatory limbo, with the company waiting for its final permit to expand outside of San Francisco, therefore subjecting Leap to looser state regulations rather than stricter city ones. However, until that expansion was given the okay, neither the PUC nor the City was regulating Leap, with each pointing to the other as responsible.

Though many San Franciscans were likely predisposed to criticize the kind of privatization Leap might stand for, it was most heavily pilloried following a prominent ADA complaint. Leap, it turned out, had traded its buses' accessibility features for bar seating, though since that hubbub the Business Times reports that the company reinstalled a wheelchair ramp on one of its vehicles, solving everything.

The timing, as Leap itself notes, is particularly poor given a new promotional pricing structure featuring fares lower than the price of Muni.

Leap, of course, is not alone. Its competitors such as Chariot will be chugging along to pick up stranded riders. And, what's more, Leap has overcome a variety of roadblocks since its original trial run in 2013. As Muni Diaries noted at the time, on its second day of operations one of the company's buses broke down and needed a tow. But, after a tune-up it was soon on the streets again. That could be true of Leap itself, as the company says it will be "back on the road in no time."

Previously: Leap's Private Buses Continue To Hurdle Regulations