Can you still get a Lyft in Pittsburgh?

Pittsburgh may soon suffer from a mustache shortage — pink, oversized car mustaches that is. 

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, which governs public services, ordered two ride-sharing services, Lyft and Uber, to cease and desist service after they operated for months without authorization. 

The citations, issued June 30 by Mary D. Long and Jeffrey Watson, PUC administrative law judges, against Lyft and Uber fall under the definition of “common carriers by motor vehicle.” The ride-sharing services are required to have permits or certificates to authorize the services they perform, according to the commission’s spokeswoman Jennifer Kocher. 

Both Lyft, whose cars wear pink mustaches on their front bumpers, and Uber applied for experimental services permits in April, as ride-sharing is a new form of transportation, but the applications are still pending as of July 7.

The cease and desist orders didn’t stop Lyft and Uber from operating — both continued providing services in Pittsburgh after receiving the orders. City resident Mili Patel, a junior pre-med student at Pitt, said she has yet to see any changes result from the order. Lyft’s Pittsburgh website is fully operational and drivers are still available upon request.

“I’m pretty angry about [the cease and desist orders], but I know that Lyft is still continuing operations because my friends and I took a Lyft on Thursday night,” Patel said.

According to its blog, Uber plans to continue service.

“Despite the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission decision today to support special interests over consumers, Uber will operate as usual and continue providing Pittsburghers with access to safe, affordable and reliable rides,” Uber said on its blog.

Kocher said the companies could face a contempt of court charge for “disregarding a Commission Order.” 

The PUC issued the cease and desist orders after talking with the two companies about the laws and regulations in place earlier this year, according to Kocher. 

“On March 14, 2014, we provided information about the experimental license and other types of things, such as emergency temporary authority, that the companies could apply for to become compliant with the laws as they exist in Pennsylvania at this time,” Kocher said. “We also provided them with information on what our options were if they did not comply.”

Kocher said the drivers for the two companies could face summary offenses from local district courts for driving without proper licensing, but drivers would be charged separately from the parent companies.

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto supported Lyft and Uber in their battle to become a permanent part of Pittsburgh’s transportation services in a July 3 press release. Peduto also tweets regularly about the situation. 

According to the release, State Senator Wayne Fontana is preparing legislation to push for the legalization of ride-sharing services in Pennsylvania.

“As of today, actions are underway in the Legislature to support ride-sharing services and I stand solidly behind them,” Peduto said in the release.

Timothy McNulty, Peduto’s spokesman, said Pittsburgh ought to offer more “cutting-edge transit options.”

“The state needs to recognize, as the mayor does, that ride-sharing technology isn’t going away and must be accommodated,” McNulty said. 

Although Lyft and Uber have Peduto’s support, they do not have the support of many state senators including Matt Smith, Jay Costa and Randy Vulakovich, who contacted the PUC throughout the application process for Lyft’s and Uber’s experimental licenses. Since April, when Lyft and Uber applied for the license, the PUC has received eight letters, most of which cite the “inadequacy” of the insurance that Lyft and Uber use to show their concern over the safety of their constituents.

Other transportation services, including Black Tie Limousine and Executive Transportation Services, filed official protests with the PUC against Lyft’s and Uber’s experimental license applications, which can be found on PUC’s website.  

As of July 8, neither company had stopped service and, on Monday, Uber sought “emergency status” for an experimental license from the PUC.

“We are disappointed by the PUC’s actions, as Uber has been working in good faith with state officials for months to create modern regulations that will give consumers access to the safest rides on the road,” Uber said on its blog. “Pennsylvania regulators should be standing up for innovation, consumer choice and job growth – not the status quo.”

Neither Lyft nor Uber representatives could be reached for comment after multiple attempts over the course of several days.