NEW YORK — For the handful of New York transit officials who dutifully collect and catalog more than 50,000 items a year lost on commuter trains, subways and buses, the monotonous flood of wallets, handbags, eyeglasses and smartphones is occasionally
NEW YORK — For the handful of New York transit officials who dutifully collect and catalog more than 50,000 items a year lost on commuter trains, subways and buses, the monotonous flood of wallets, handbags, eyeglasses and smartphones is occasionally broken by tales of some of the crazier things left behind.
There was a pet bunny rabbit, a prosthetic leg, a car bumper, a tuba, a diamond engagement ring and an ordinary-looking briefcase that was opened to reveal a dizzying array of adult toys.
“We get false teeth almost every week,” said William Bonner, supervisor of the New York City Transit lost-and-found office below the 34th Street subway, which has amassed 26,000 items this year. “How do you lose your teeth?”
A few blocks north at the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Metro-North Railroad lost and found, five clerks oversee the 100 to 150 items that come in every day from Metro-North trains.
For every item, the clerks document the train, car and seat number where it was found.
