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‘Luxury’ San Francisco Commuter Bus Service Leap Is Bankrupt

Leap had been dormant since city regulators halted operations in May.

San Francisco commuter bus service Leap Transit has filed for bankruptcy. Feel free to pretend to be sad.

Leap was ordered to stop operating back in May, after city regulators determined the company did not have the necessary licenses to offer its services. That stoppage order appears to have sunk Leap, since the company technically filed for bankruptcy in July. It wasn't until the San Francisco Examiner reported yesterday that the company was auctioning off busses that the company's failure become public knowledge.

Leap ferried well-compensated tech workers from San Francisco to the nearby outposts of companies like Apple, Electronic Arts, and Google on busses outfitted with perks like Stumptown coffee and Wi-Fi (so you can work forever) for $6 a ride, or more than twice what a municipal bus ride would cost you. Motherboard tested the service earlier this year, noting that it so effectively separated passengers from the reality of urban life (cramped quarters, working class humans speaking a variety of languages!) that you could "pretend you don't live in San Francisco at all." Because why would you want to feel like a part of one of this planet's finest cities?

Bus services like Leap have proved to be quite controversial, sparking protests from citizens concerned about the amount of traffic they generate and what they do to the social fabric of the city. In March, Leap attempted to brush aside these concerns, with investors telling Ars Technica that the company was merely trying to provide "an experience" for San Francisco's commute-weary workers.