App-powered buses offers luxury ride in San Francisco

A new firm in San Francisco has put a price tag, 6 U.S. dollars per ride, on its luxury buses decorated with reclaimed wood, ample seats and Wi-Fi Internet access.

Leap Transit Inc. joined a myriad of transportation startups in the U.S. west coast city by launching its first buses and routes in March, claiming to be a solution to the overcrowded public transportation.

Like Uber and Lyft and some other new comers on the street of San Francisco in recent years, Leap allows passengers to hail buses from their smartphones or other mobile devices through its software application, or app.

The earlier players in the field had to navigate their way in a sea of regulations, since public policy makers were at odds as to how to categorize them.

Leap dodged city regulations thanks to a legal vacuum that helped it avoid the need for a city-issued permit. The company received a license issued by the state of California last month to operate, granting it the legal ground to offer its services in San Francisco.

Susan Shaheen, Co-Director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center at University of California at Berkeley, told Xinhua that Leap and similar app-powered car-sharing and transportation companies tend to cross city limits, posing a problem for local authorities.

"Public policy makers are not being able to catch up with innovation," Shaheen said, since companies of the kind are popping up in big cities around the United States at a fast pace. "It's a very delicate balance and they (as regulators) have to be extremely cautious," so as not to hinder innovation.

"The question is," observed the expert in innovative mobility, "nowadays it is not very clear who is monitoring the public's interest to guarantee that these services are carried out with the highest safety and quality standards."

Leap and similar companies have come under the public eye for other reasons as well. Critics accuse them of creating a two- tiered transportation system that further widens the socioeconomic gap in San Francisco, a city already under great social strain due to the influx of techies from Silicon Valley.

"I don't see what's the problem with these companies," San Francisco commuter Michael T. told Xinhua. "They keep people from using or buying cars, which pollute, so I welcome the initiative." He acknowledges that he is not be able to afford daily rides on Leap buses and will continue to use regular public transportation.

These new companies are mostly targeting the affluent, although that doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. "People who can afford to ride these buses everyday are clearly people who could afford to ride a car everyday," Shaheen said. Getting them off their cars to go to work is a win-win situation for everyone, including the environment."