Plans to reinstate the Liberty Village Express on Monday have been suspended on the advice of the organization’s lawyers.

The operators of the bus service, LineSix, released a statement Friday afternoon on their website announcing the suspension.

“We wanted to . . . slow down a bit, take a step back, make sure we have everything in place . . . and move forward,” Brett Chang, co-founder of LineSix, said Friday evening.

LineSix was not instructed to shut down, according to Chang, and he said they wanted to take precautions “to make sure that (LineSix) fully understand(s) the regulatory environment and can operate within it.”

Chang said that the organization made the decision to suspend service late this week after their legal counsel recently gave a final opinion after an ongoing review.

With a new mayor and city council recently elected, Chang said LineSix is waiting to see if there will be changes to policies governing alternative transportation in Toronto. He also said that the organization wanted to have a legal opinion at the ready before speaking with city council and bureaucrats.

“It’s us wanting to make sure that when we start the service we can continue indefinitely,” Chang added.

The service first started as a pilot project in the fall as an alternative to the busy TTC 504 King streetcar. Bus trips ran between Liberty Village and Union Station. During the pilot, approximately 45 to 50 people used the service every morning.

Chang said the organization sold 50 passes in advance of Monday’s launch. Monthly passes were priced at $200 and weekly passes were $57.

It is not known when the Liberty Village Express will be restored, but Chang hoped to share more information about the service and other proposals within the coming months.

Chang and LineSix are also working on developing other ideas that fit within existing regulations, especially around the area of recreation transit as well as reduced transit frequency on weekends and after 7 p.m. on weekdays.

“Our mandate, and (it) has been from the beginning, is to improve Toronto transit, and that’s what we’re really dedicated to.”

With files from Tess Kalinowski