By Joseph Morales

*The information below applies to NYC buses, subways and the Staten Island Railway. If you lost something on the LIRR, click here:https://new.mta.info/lost-and-found/long-island-rail-road

*If you lost something on the Metro-North, click here:https://new.mta.info/lost-and-found/metro-north-railroad

The buses and subways are crucial to mobility in New York City, serving millions of passengers daily. Given the size of the system, people generally keep their personal belongings safe, fearing they will not be able to retrieve an item if it is lost. When most people do lose something, they almost always think there is zero chance of getting it back.

                This is absolutely not the case, as the MTA actually has a robust lost-and-found system that not many people know about. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to retrieve items lost on mass transit and where to go to get your stuff back! 

1. Speak to Subway Station Agent/Bus Depot

*If you lost something on the subway far from your home, you can skip to step 2.

                   If you lost something on the subway, speak to a station agent at the station nearest to where you last saw your item. It’s possible that a good samaritan, police officer, national guardsman, or MTA employee brought your item to the agent’s desk, and it is ready for you to pick up. In addition, station agents have been moving around their stations more often for the past year as part of a new MTA initiative where station agents traverse their stations outside of their booths. Also, Gov Hochul has recently deployed hundreds of MTA Police, State Police, and National Guard to the subway system in order to reduce crime in the system. Hence, there are more people in the subway system now who might come across your item and return it to a station booth. If the item was lost on the Staten Island Railway, speak to an agent at the St. George station. 

                   If you lose something on a bus, call 511. In addition to telling them about your item, tell them when you lost it and which route you were on. They will then be able to see if your item turned up at the bus depot the route you were on is assigned to. All items on MTA buses are removed from buses once they arrive at depots. 

                   If the MTA has your item in either case, you’ll be instructed to complete a Lost Property Receipt with personal information and descriptive information on your item. The MTA does this to ensure people do not receive items that do not belong to them. You will also need to provide an ID, which can be anything, including your name and picture. Examples of acceptable IDs include but are not limited to, Student IDs and driver’s licenses. 

2. File a Lost and Found Claim

                    If you completed step 1 and have not retrieved your item, you will need to file a claim with the MTA’s Lost and Found. If you lost something on a bus and were already in contact with 511, they will likely direct you on how to file a claim. However, if this is not the case, you will need to file a claim online. You can also skip step 1 and file a claim online with the Lost and Found, as all items in bus depots and station booths will eventually go here after being unclaimed for a certain period of time.

                    To file a lost and found claim online, click here: https://lostandfound.mta.info/.  Here, provide the MTA with as much information about the trip you took when you lost your item. They will use all of this info to search for your item. Then, the MTA will contact you after 5, 10, 21, and 30 days regarding whether they found your item. If they find it, you will have two options to retrieve it. One would be to call 511 and schedule an appointment to pick up your item at the MTA’s Lost & Found at the 34th St-Penn Station subway station. If you don’t want to travel to Midtown Manhattan, you can also ask the MTA to mail you your item. However, you will have to pay all shipping costs. Remember, you can only visit the Lost & Found if the MTA contacts you saying they have found your item. 

3. Don’t Delay Action

                  No matter the circumstances, do not delay starting the process to find your item or claim it if the MTA finds it. While it may seem like you’ve lost something for good on mass transit, there are many situations where lost property is stored in the MTA’s Lost and Found. A video tour of the Lost & Found on the Youtube Channel WhatIsNewYork, which included NYCT President Richard Davey, showed a plethora of bikes along with boxes full of books, toys, and other items. Cell phones were stored in giant lockers with bags full of 50 phones each. Unfortunately, most of these items likely go unclaimed as many people do not know about or simply don’t bother with the MTA’s Lost and Found process. Therefore, if you lose something on mass transit, remember to speak to a station agent, call 511 and/or file a claim online. Items stay in the MTA Lost and Found for anywhere between three months and three years before being auctioned, so you don’t want to miss out.

              With that being said, I wish you the best of luck, and I hope you obtain your lost item!

Works Cited

Eyewitness News ABC7. “National Guard, state troopers, MTA police deployed in New York City subways.” ABC7 New York, 8 March 2024, https://abc7ny.com/national-guard-police-nypd-bag-checks/14503194/. Accessed 24 March 2024.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “Long Island Rail Road Lost and Found.” MTA, https://new.mta.info/lost-and-found/long-island-rail-road. Accessed 24 March 2024.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “Metro-North Railroad Lost and Found.” MTA, https://new.mta.info/lost-and-found/metro-north-railroad. Accessed 24 March 2024.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “New York City Transit Lost and Found.” MTA, https://new.mta.info/lost-and-found/subway-bus-and-staten-island-railway. Accessed 24 March 2024.

MTA Lost and Found Subways and Buses. “Lost Claim Reporting.” MTA Lost & Found, https://lostandfound.mta.info/. Accessed 24 March 2024.

Paolicelli, Alyssa. “MTA station agents say goodbye to booths, enter new era of customer service.” NY1, 30 March 2023, https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2023/03/30/mta-station-agents-say-goodbye-to-booths–enter-new-era-of-customer-service. Accessed 24 March 2024.

WhatIsNewYork. “Exclusive Tour of the MTA Lost and Found!” YouTube, 14 September 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndNo_VzHlEs. Accessed 24 March 2024.