Mobile phones most common lost item on public transport

Statistics showed Wednesday that an average of 435 items go missing daily on Seoul’s subway trains, buses and taxis, with mobile phones topping the list.

Seoul City councilor Choi Pan-sul released the data showing that a total of 158,812 items were lost on Seoul’s public transportation last year, an 18 percentage point increase compared to 2014.

About 78 percent or 124,627 items were lost on the subway, followed by 32,592 items lost on buses and 1,593 items on taxis.

Over 50 percent of the items left in taxis were electronic devices, mostly mobile phones. About 25 percent and 33 percent of the lost items on the subway and buses respectively were also mobile phones.

Data also showed that 82 percent of those who lost items on public transport were able to get them back last year.

By mode of transportation, 85 percent of subway users, 72 percent of bus users and 59 percent of taxi riders who left their items were able to retrieve their lost items.

Seoul’s subway operators Seoul Metro and Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corp. have been tracking and updating information on lost items on its official website as soon as they are picked up. If an owner does not show up within 24 hours, the items are kept at a lost-and-found center for storage.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)