Photo by Lodigs
Monday I almost forgot my bike on the bus’s bike rack. It was the first time I’d ever taken a bike on the bus – I usually plan on living close to the stops, but I had to run some errands – and I made the rookie mistake of exiting through the rear doors. I had to chase the bus two blocks and not Seattle blocks either: big, long, suburban, Redmond super-blocks, and luckily there was a big, long, suburban, Redmond super-red-light where I could catch back up. Now I know to come to the front and tell the driver I need my bike before de-bussing.
It got me thinking of all the things I’ve lost on buses and trains over the years; this is not a list I’m proud of. I can remember four cell phones on three continents: one (my first!) on the 43, one on the 540, one on the Denentoshi Sen, which I recovered, and one on the Hammersmith and City line. I’ll never forget the two backpacks: one on the 48 on my way to Washington Middle School back during the school bus drivers’ strike and one on the Toyoko line which I recovered by calling my roommate and letting him know to get on that same train on it’s way back from Yokohama. Then there’s the odds and ends: a wallet once on the 44, a cheesecake once on the Shinkansen from Fukuoka to Hiroshima, and a digital camera on the ICE from Hamberg to Amsterdam just this summer. You’d think I’d have the hang of this by now… I’m sort of proud of myself that with four years of riding BART, Muni, and Caltrain every day I never lost anything.
So obviously I’m more absent-minded than most. But I’m not alone, otherwise transit organizations wouldn’t have pages on their website like this Metro Lost and Found page, this Metro Bike Lost and Found Page, this Sound Transit page, this Pierce Transit Page, this Pierce Transit comment, or this ferries page about how to recover lost items. So what have you lost on transit? Did you get it back? If so, how?
I’ve left my wallet on a Sound Transit bus that went from Everett to Seattle (not sure which one, it was a fluke ride to get back south after riding bike from Seattle to Everett). I got home and realized it, and called around to find out it had made its way to the Lynnwood TC, where I was able to get it back.
Another time I left my bike on the front of a Pierce Transit 501 on my way to work, while transferring over to the 3 at Tenth and Commerce. (I attribute this one to dozing on the bus and forgetting I had the bike) Again, called Pierce Transit and I was able to go down to the PT HQ in Lakewood and retrieve Betsy.
It is to date the only time I have ever forgotten Betsy.
I also did once lose an mp3 player on an Amtrak Cascades run, but I chalk that one up to sheer stupidity and wrote it off.
Oh, man. I have *definitely* left things on Cascades. One jacket, definitely one or two books.
I left one of my gloves on the 348 during the mess that was the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I’m kind of annoyed with myself because that was the only pair of water-resistant gloves that I own, but the thought of the number of black leather gloves that I’d have to sort through kept me from doing anything about it, given that they date back to the 90′s and weren’t in great shape.
Lost a nice digital camera last October on a bus downtown (can’t remember the number). Called the Lost and Found a couple times. Nada.
Never lost anything. Seasoned commuters know never to set anything down. And yes, I am typing this with a very smug, self-satisfied look on my face.
We lost our son’s favorite blanket on his first 150 ride a couple years ago. He was just over a year old, so that day was a long day. My wife got it back from Metro Lost and Found the next day.
(And yes, it received a good washing.)
I’ve lost a jacket on the 71 and a laptop on the 66. It was a nice laptop too, a new macbook.
Amazingly I got the laptop back because someone pikced it up, found my name and phone number in the bag and called me. I was so happy, and I owed that person forever.
The jacket was a goner though.
Max W?
My sanity. On the Shinkansen between Tokyo and Kyoto, I apparently went insane, because that’s what started this whole obsession with improving our transportation system.
You guys are losers! J/K.
I’ve only ever lost one pair of sunglasses on the bus, but I’ve found a ton of stuff: a purse, an umbrella, two cellphones, a boombox and a bag full of groceries. I always bring it to the driver. I feel bad for the person who lost their groceries.
I’m always surprised that all I’ve ever lost is a single pair of gloves.
I’ve only lost two things on the bus. Both I actually may have lost elsewhere, and both were forms of ID. Never got either back.
After taking a 358 home from a concert at an ungodly hour, I discovered my state ID was missing. Call lost and found and never got it back, but for all I know I lost it at the Showbox. The worst part of that whole thing? I had to catch a plane early the next morning. Luckily I wasn’t quite 18 at the time.
The second, I lost my reduced fare permit on a 181. Again, could’ve lost it somewhere else, but that was the last place I saw it.
I’ve been lucky enough not to have lost anything else.
Once I got off a 194 and was sure I left my phone on it. I ran down to 2nd to make sure I could catch it on the way back, and then realized the phone was in a different pocket of the bag I was carrying. Phew!
This summer I lost my pass on the San Jose light rail, which I found out when the fare inspector came up to me. The guy made me get off and put me their “list” so if that ever happens again, he said I would get a citation…
After I had exited the train to get a new pass and gone back to downtown San Jose, I saw some kids throwing little rubber things at a light rail train stuck at a red light. But their parents didn’t tell them they’d get in trouble or just to knock it off, they told them they’d get a “citation.” They kind of have a fixation with those in San Jose I guess.
It was a very windy Saturday when I dropped my wallet on the 255 at Montlake. I realized that when I reached into my pocket to get my U-PASS for the 43. Being only a few minutes after the 255 left, I knew it was probably at Westlake by now so I still had a chance. I quickly called Metro to report my lost wallet. They radioed the operator to check for it but he didn’t find anything but I knew it was on that bus so I asked them when would that bus come back the other way. They said in about 40 minutes. With that much time to kill and traffic on eastbound 520 jammed I decided to take a time-lapse photo of traffic where the clouds moved faster than the traffic. My bus arrived and I told the driver I was looking for my wallet. I went to my seat and looked on the floor, no wallet to be found. Turns out it was wedged in the gap between the seat and the wall. Luckily, it was a happy ending for me in this case.
Before this, I lost my Husky Card with U-PASS and never got it back. I had to pay for a replacement.
I also lost my cell phone on the 72, on a weekend again. Fortunately the driver found it. I got it back a few days later.
This summer I went on a public bus trip from Seattle to Portland with my friend (He comments on STB as alexjonlin). The first 14 bus trips (and 3 light rail & streetcar trips) laden with backpacks and sleeping bags went off without a hitch. As we pulled into Seattle on the 594, we high fived each other on making it back with all our gear. We got off the bus on 4th, got the driver’s signature (we collected every drivers’ from our whole trip), and I tooka picture of the bus. Just about the second it began to pull away, I realized my sleeping bag was still in the overhead bin. I ran after it for about a block before it was obviously out of range. I called ST, who referred me to PT, who told me they’d found the bag, but I’d have to go to the Bus Shop at Commerce Street to retrieve it. It was very hard for me, a full-time high school student, to find a chance to get down to the Bus Shop during its open hours. Eventually, I made it, and took another 594 back up. It was standing room only, so I once again stashed my bag in the overhead compartment. Imagine my shock, anger and disappointment as I watched the bus drive away from 4th & Jackson with my sleeping bag on it once more. I called up PT again, and they had my item. Once I got down there, they told me not to let it happen again. The weird thing is, the woman helping me seemed genuinely mad at me for losing the bag again, ad threatened that next time she wouldn’t keep it in her lost and found cabinet.
1) My favorite umbrella – never showed up in lost and found.
2) Ignition chip for the ignition on my car fell out of my pocket. Can’t use the car now (is that really a bad thing?). On the other hand, I got to use my AAA to have the car towed from the park-and-ride to the house.