Misplaced your bike, cellphone or prosthetic leg on the Metro rail? Here's how to get them back
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If you’ve ever lost something valuable on a Metro bus or train and assumed it was gone forever, take heart: There is a system for reuniting riders with their possessions.The Los Angeles Metro Lost & Found office off Pasadena Avenue in Montecito Heights has items as varied as cellphones and blowtorches that have been found by Metro staff or security guards on buses and rail lines.Patrick Diaz has been riding the city’s sprawling public transportation system since 2003; he’s now the communications manager for Metro’s customer experience department.
He still remembers when he lost his high school textbook years ago on the 207 bus that departs from the Crenshaw station on Western Avenue.At the time, he didn’t think about looking, believing it was lost forever.
After witnessing and participating in reuniting Metro riders with their displaced things, Diaz strongly encourages people not to give up on lost possessions.Metro recovers approximately 1,000 items a month and processes close to 15,000 items a year.
It has a 30% rate of return, meaning 30% of lost items are recovered and reunited with their owners, he said.Witnessing the emotions of people reuniting “with their treasures, it doesn’t matter how small or large,” brings joy, said Vanessa Smith, executive officer of customer care for the Metro system.Smith said she was once contacted by a mother whose daughter lost a button from her coat.
“It was a very ornate button and that seems small to someone but not to the owner,” she said.That button was found and returned.
California L.A.Metro really wants people to take their soon-to-be-opened rail line extension, and have come up with a virally popular marketing method to spread the word — a new line of merchandise proudly emblazoned with the phrase, “Ride the D.”While most missing items are typical things that people travel with like cellphone...