Treasure trove of property left on public transport

24 December 2024

Whipper snippers, musical instruments, suitcases and prams were among a staggering 14,000 items left on trains, trams and buses this year.

Adelaide Metro passengers Jody Olsson and Tiffany Hathazi with their lost bag that was located by the Adelaide Metro team.

With the festive season upon us, passengers are being encouraged to keep an eye on their belongings as they head home from shopping trips and parties, making sure their goods don't get lost and end up at a transport depot.

So far this year, more than 57 million trips have been recorded across the Adelaide Metro network, with around 605 train, 420 tram and 9000 bus services running daily.

With so many passengers commuting on public transport, personal belongings can easily get left behind.

Close to 2400 items were discovered, collected and stored at Morphettville Bus Depot this year, the largest number of lost items stored at any of Adelaide Metros 11 depots.

Each depot’s storage room is a treasure trove for lost property, with items of all shapes and sizes found and stored, including the items pictured below that were found on a train. Lostproperty

Some items were more frequent flyers than others, the top five common finds for 2024 were:

MetroCARDS (1440)
wallets (1164)
mobile phones (818)
drink bottles (536)
umbrellas (492)

Money was also a common find. In one wallet $950 was found, which was thankfully quickly claimed by a very grateful owner who was able to identify the wallet and its contents.

In cases where items cannot be identified despite the best efforts from staff, they are donated to charity after a month of being in storage.

If you do happen to lose an item while traveling on public transport, you can report it on the Adelaide Metro website or by calling 1300 311 108.

If you find a lost item, you can hand it to a staff member or driver as you are leaving.

Adelaide Metro spokesperson Michelle Spagnoletti said the team worked hard to reunite customers with their lost belongings.

"So far this year, we have found more than 14,000 lost items across the Adelaide Metro network," she said.

"While it can be a thankless task, it is a very rewarding moment when we are able to reunite a sentimental or personal item with its owner."

Passenger Jody Olsson was grateful for the "amazing help" from the Adelaide Metro team in locating her client's lost backpack, which had expensive hearing aids inside.

"It can be a very stressful time when you accidentally leave something on public transport," she said.

"Luckily there are still wonderful people in our society that are honest enough not to take someone’s personal property."