In his review today one of the (few) things Times critic Pete Wells actually liked about dining at Shake Shack was its exceedingly polite service—which isn't really a surprise as the chain is owned by Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group which is known for, you guessed it, its hospitality. But with restaurant margins tight and the economy still shaky, now even regular old fast-casual spots are trying to learn to better service their customers. more ›

Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, starts tonight at sundown. And suffice to say, it's a bit more serious than Rosh Hashanah—so there are no Muppets-related videos to get your toes tapping tonight. Instead, there are very serious subway and train difficulties awaiting you this weekend, as you contemplate all the wrongs you have perpetrated this year. more ›

Yesterday afternoon, lightning hit Long Island Rail Road operations near Jamaica, causing a signal problem that then cascaded into service suspensions across LIRR as well as a temporary closure of Penn Station due to crowding. Service eventually came back later in the evening... only for it to be suspended again. However, today, the MTA believes that the LIRR morning commute—after crews worked all night to restore service— will "operate near-normal morning rush hour service... However, customers are advised that there will be some canceled trains and some delays." more ›

The end of summer means lots of things: school, cooler weather, new fashions and new restaurants, sure, but also the return of everyones favorite ongoing subway headache. That's right, it is time to play Is The L Train Fucked? And guess what? Yup, this weekend it most certainly is! more ›

Need to take the L to or from east of Lorimer Street this weekend? Well then, you are totally screwed. Once again the dreaded shuttle service will be back in effect, running from Lorimer to Broadway Junction, from 11:59 tonight through 5 a.m. on Monday. more ›

Certain websites aside, we always thought New York was actually a pretty good town for getting tips, what with all the big spenders here and the many professionals whose livelihood depends on tips. And we are! But you know who apparently tips better? New Hampshireites. And Alaskans. And Wisconsinites. Also? People from Nevada, Florida, Arizona, Connecticut, Kentucky, Maine, Hawaii, Vermont, and Alabama. According to research from Marketplace, they beat us on when it comes to average tips given on $20 sit-down meals. more ›

A Long Island cop has been suspended after a surveillance camera caught him pulling a gun on a bartender while his back was turned in a Farmingdale bar. CBS 2 obtained the video, below, and it's pretty shocking. But to be fair, the service at the South Main Street Pub just isn't what it used to be. more ›

Should we really be patting Metro-North on the caboose for running their trains on time? According to the NY Post, the railroad (allegedly!) had a 100 percent on-time record on Tuesday, with "all 659 runs east of the Hudson and all 61 runs west of the Hudson running exactly on time." Great, right? But shouldn't this happen everyday... or at least several times a week? Or several times a month? Or year? As it stands, this hasn't happened since April 29th! If this is some new standard of excellence in service with the MTA, we're going to have to find a way to lower this bar even further. The Post may be giving you a "star," but we say try harder, Metro-North. more ›

Even though the recession has been over for some time, it's still tough to find a job in the city. Many qualified graduates with diverse degrees have had to settle for jobs in service or retail to make ends meet while sending out countless resumes to accounting firms or publishing houses. Not that jobs in the service industry aren't great, they just aren't for everyone. So you can imagine how excited we got when a Daily News headline read, "Companies are looking to start staffing up again." Callooh! Callay! Jobs for everyone! And then we read further: "Many of the businesses currently looking for staff are retailers, restaurants and hotels, all of whom are gearing up for the influx of tourists for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays." more ›

With work planned on nearly every subway line and about 600 shuttle buses dispatched to cart around the huddled masses, straphangers are saying service couldn't be more of a bitch this weekend. And sorry, L train riders, you've now been cursed with the "Planned Work" label too! "On the bus, off the bus! On the bus, off the bus! It's just a hassle," said Steven Malcolm as he tried to get from Washington Heights to the Bronx. Diana Perez was ready to take names, griping, "I'm very irritated. Really mad. What's the point of me buying this MetroCard? This is a lie." more ›

Good news if you live on the L, the S, or the Staten Island Railroad: you will actually be able to get where you want this weekend (as long as you stick to your line). The rest of us may take the time to get to know our own neighborhoods, as the MTA has "planned work" on every other line. Here are some of the disruptions: more ›

AT&T is claiming they've just completed a project that has improved wireless service in New York City—have you noticed a difference? According to the AP, the company "has given more room on the airwaves to its 3G network, used by the iPhone and some other phones, in the boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens." In doing so, service quality has allgedly steadily improved over the past six months—meaning less dropped calls and improved voice and data performance. more ›

Think your cell phone service is bad? Well, it probably is, and not just for those sending their monthly payments to AT&T. The Wall Street Journal has now examined Nielsen's data on dropped and unsuccessful calls in the city (did you know the company sends out vans to make 140,000 test calls in the 5 boroughs, and beyond, every year?). Sadly, what they find is that we've got far too many dead zones for such a populated city. more ›

As the MTA's budget continues to look grim, they've begun taking steps towards massive layoffs. They've allegedly filed a required alert with the Labor Department about plans for 750 layoffs, including a majority of workers from the bus division. The bus worker layoffs would go into effect on June 27th, the same day the "doomsday" service cuts are implemented. The rest of the layoffs, mostly subway car inspectors, would be finalized on July 4th. more ›

Apple is developing a new iPhone to debut this summer; it's said to be thinner with a faster processor... but will it give customers what they really want: a new carrier? According to the Wall Street Journal, the company is working on producing a new iPhone that would make the gadget available through Verizon, and other CDMA carriers. The question is when will it be available to the public (some say this summer, some September, some 2012). Their exclusive arrangement with AT&T is coming to an end—which will certainly make many users happy; their service has been iBysmal in New York (for real) and other metro areas. more ›

The far-reaching MTA service cuts approved yesterday are just the tip of the iceberg, according to Mayor Bloomberg. Reducing service, eliminating the W and V trains, and cutting dozens of bus routes will help the MTA close about half of its $750 million budget shortfall—meaning the agency will need to make $400 million of additional cuts by the end of the year. "This is just the beginning," Bloomberg told the Post. "The next round I would think would be much worse ... So save your anger for the next round. Just say thank you that it isn't any worse with this one." more ›

This shouldn't come as much of a surprise. The MTA board voted 11-2 to approve far-reaching service cuts that will eliminate the W and V trains and cut more than 30 bus lines in an attempt to plug a revenue shortfall of $750 million. Despite some alterations to the planned cuts drafted after a series of contentious public hearings, the service reductions closely mirror those proposed last year. more ›

After a series of contentious public hearings in which four people were arrested, the cash-strapped MTA announced that is considering saving several bus routes that had been slated for elimination. According to the Daily News, a "small number" of bus routes might be spared, though a final decision hasn't yet been made. By making administrative cuts, MTA chief Jay Walder told the Post he can save about $5 million and keep some previously endangered bus lines running. "We have listened closely to our customers and will respond by making changes where we can," he said. Student MetroCards and the W train remain on the chopping block. more ›

After no small degree of dread was endured by those who rely on the G and F to get around Brooklyn, the big snow storm has come through with a reprieve this weekend. The MTA has announced that "due to inclement weather, all weekend subway work has been canceled. All lines will operate according to the usual weekend schedule." Shuttle buses were to have replaced the F train between Jay Street and Church Avenue, and the G line was to have been divided up into trains, single-track shuttle trains, and the F shuttle buses. But the best laid schemes of rats and MTA went askew, thanks to the snowacane. Even the 7 train's running between Manhattan and Long Island City! Oh MTA, you're going to spoil us! more ›

The G train weekend suspensions, which were originally supposed to last for four weekends, will happen again later this year, with at least two more rounds of suspensions lasting at least a month each, according to Assemblyman Joe Lentol, who's pressuring the MTA to do a better job communicating with riders. To that end, NYC Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges has emailed us to announce that this weekend the G will finally be running again—but just between Court Square and Bedford-Nostrand. more ›

As the MTA faces a crushing financial shortfall that could cause service cuts and fare hikes, the new president of MTA NYC Transit revealed his plans to repaint and refurbish eight recently-renovated subway stations that he says have fallen into disrepair. "I don't want to say that because of our budget issues, we can't make improvements," said Thomas Prendergast. "There's room for improvement, and I honestly think we can do it." more ›

Wait, if you haven't left for work already be advised there are problems with the F and V trains this morning, so if you live along that line in Brooklyn or downtown, you may want to consider alternative modes of transport, like skipping or flying or praying. Gothamist's Ben Muessig is currently cooling his heels on the F train at Smith & Ninth Street; the conductor says they're holding the F at all of the stations "for a while." And this was posted to the MTA site about ten minutes ago: "Due to switch problems at the West 4th Street-Washington Square Station, Queens-bound F and V trains are running express from the Broadway-Lafayette Station to the West 4th Street-Washington Square Station." The D is also experiencing delays. PLEASE BE PATIENT. more ›

Uptown on the A and C lines, the MTA is testing out convenient countdown clocks like the ones used in L train terminals. "I think it's great," said Richard Lehman at 145th St. "I never understood why they didn't do it before." The answer? Because they're expensive and the authority has cash-flow problems—in recent days it's been criticized for its constant and unpredictable service cuts and changes. Timers at four stations—145th, 155th, 163rd and 168th streets—cost $20,000, and and though expansion of the system may be more of a band-aid than a solution, passengers are grateful nonetheless. "It's good to know how long it's going to be because you have other options, different choices," said another rider at a newly-equipped terminal. more ›

In order to avoid far-reaching subway cuts that would eliminate the M and W lines and cause trains to become less frequent and more crowded, the MTA needs about $18 million—the same amount a deadbeat advertising company owes the transit agency. An MTA audit revealed that Titan Outdoor Holdings has come up short on its monthly payments for almost a year, but the MTA is afraid that recouping the money might bankrupt the company, causing the agency to net even less revenue. more ›

Due to possibly inclement weather, the MTA has preemptively canceled all subway work this weekend. New Yorkers along the G line have been relying on shuttle buses for the past three weekends while work is done, and with the snowpocalypse looming, there was concern that roads might be relatively snowed out, stranding neighborhoods like Greenpoint without public transportation. So the MTA tells us that all subway lines will operate according to the usual weekend schedule. Oh, except the 7, which will once again not run between Times Square-42nd Street and Queensboro Plaza. Sorry, LIC. An MTA spokesperson tells us there will be a meeting Monday morning to discuss the how the storm cancellations will affect the upcoming weekend schedules. (This was supposed to be the last weekend of G suspension.) more ›

"It's a double whammy," Gene Russianoff, staff lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign, told Gothamist. "You'll have to wait longer for a train, and you'll have a reduced chance of finding a seat." According to MTA documents [PDF], instead of attempting to accommodate 100 percent of off-peak passengers with seats, the agency will aim to fill the cars with 125 percent of the "seated load." Commuters can expect more crowded trains during all off-peak hours on the 7 and L lines, midday and evenings on the 1 and A lines, and Sundays on the J and M lines. And the number of seat-less commuters is actually expected to exceed the proposed maximum of 18 standing passengers on F and Q lines at certain times on Saturdays, and on 1 and N trains at certain times on Saturdays and Sundays. more ›

We're halfway through the G train's month-long disappearance on weekends, and naturally there have been horror stories of inconvenient commutes by shuttle bus to under-served parts of Brooklyn and Queens. That Greenpoint blog New York Shitty published a photo series of forsaken commuters waiting for the shuttle bus in Williamsburg, calling it "Waiting for G(odot)," with a dedication to the MTA. And another blogger described an annoying ride on packed shuttle that passed her usual stop by half a block. Nightmare! But not everyone misses the G train, and some wish it would stay disappeared for good. more ›