An undercover study planted 24 lost items with transit workers across subway stations and buses in early 2024. Only one item, a keychain bearing a return email address, reached the MTA Lost Property Unit. The inspector general warned that employees may be discarding or keeping passengers' lost property. On the Long Island Rail Road 47 percent of test items were recovered. In 2023 the Lost Property Unit logged more than 68,000 items while riders filed over 31,500 claims. Matching items to claims can take weeks. Riders are advised to check station booths, bus depots, Staten Island’s St. George Terminal, and to file claims online or by calling 511.
If you've ever left your AirPods wedged between subway seats or your tote bag forgotten on the Q, don't hold your breath waiting for the MTA to give it back. In early 2024, investigators planted 24 "lost" items with transit workers across subway stations and buses. Months later, only one-yes, one-ever made it back to the Lost Property Unit. (And that was a keychain with an email address practically screaming "return me.") The rest? Gone. Vanished. Possibly in the wild, possibly in someone's junk drawer.
The inspector general's office didn't mince words, warning that employees may be discarding-or even keeping-passengers' lost property. Ouch. Things weren't much better on the Long Island Rail Road, where only 47-percent of test items resurfaced. That's alarming when you consider the scale: In 2023, the MTA's Lost Property Unit logged more than 68,000 items, while straphangers filed over 31,500 claims trying to get their stuff back. The process is so clunky that even when items do show up, matching them with claims can take weeks.
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