August 14, 2007
Big Yellow Taxi, Big Void of Lost Items
City Council member Gale Brewer criticized the Taxi and Limousine Commission's disorganized lost and found process and urged the TLC to make some changes. Brewer said, "A New Yorker misfortunate enough to lose her property in a taxi is more likely to find overwhelmed hotlines and contradictory instructions than she is to recover her missing possession. The TLC procedure is rarely followed and is hopeless without a receipt. The TLC’s system does not work, if it could even be called a system."
Here's some of what's wrong with the system, according to Brewer's report:
- The TLC hotline is understaffed. The staff made six attempts to contact the TLC through the hotline from June 13 through June 19. The minimum time on hold was ten minutes, and staff only reached an operator twice.It's true -filling out the TLC's Lost Property Inquiry form is like yelling into a vast canyon. Which is why one of the two things you should do when you ride in a taxi is get a receipt so you have the cab's medallion number (the other thing you should do is buckle up).
- Passengers without taxi receipts are to call each of the eight police precincts designated for lost property.
- Officers at the designated precincts are generally uninformed about the TLC’s policy. Staff at the 17 Precinct in Manhattan, one of the designated precincts, was unaware of any TLC designated precincts.
- A lot of lost property is not taken to the precincts, but is instead left with the taxi garage managers. As of June 20, the 107 Precinct in Queens had not had any items brought in for at least two months.
- There is no way to contact the garage without a receipt.
- When or if items are brought from the garage to the precincts, the passenger may already have called the precincts and found nothing.
- The NYPD’s organizational system for lost property requires physically searching for an item, as there is no computerized database.
The TLC is planning on introducing GPS systems in yellow cabs later this fall, which would help passengers locate lost items more easily.
Photograph of yellow cab whooshing along Fifth Avenue by Triborough on Flickr
| 
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
add to facebook
add to del.icio.us
[ report this ]
Do you need a receipt or do you just need to know the medallion number from memory?
[ report this ]
I left my cell phone in a cab once, luckily the next person to get in just took it into his own hands. He called my mom, she got a hold of me, and we met up. I'm glad he didn't give it to the cabbie; he didn't understand a word of english and I wouldn't want to deal with this crappy system.
[ report this ]
You've got to be kidding me. You're now doing an add, I mean interview for Scientology? With no ability for guests to comment? I guess this is your way of "balancing" that post from the other day about the nutty cult doing stress tests in the subway, right? They got to you, right?
Please don't feel you have to give these avaricious whackos free advertising just because they threaten you.
[ report this ]
#3 beat me to it. And where are the questions about aliens?
[ report this ]
No comments allowed on the Scientology story? Buh bye Gothamist. You've lost a fan.
[ report this ]
I'm intrigued by the fact that people are just now realizing that Gothamist NEVER allows comments on interviews. This is not specific to Scientology.
[ report this ]
Is Gothamist a Scientology front website? And no ability to comment?? Hey Jake Dobkin and Jen Chung, say hello to Xenu for me, will ya?
[ report this ]
Exactly, #6. We've kept closed comments for all interviews for the past, oh, 2-3 years, more or less, because commenters can be mean (no way!). We're actually going to turn on comments for the interview today because of popular demand, but if they go out of control, we're shutting it down.
And now, back on topic, please:
Also, a friend of mine left her cell in the cab, and when she called it, she was able to get in touch with the cabbie who brought it back to her. She gave him a tip AND then asked him to take her to the airport, so it was win-win.
And I guess you don't need a receipt if you know the medallion number - it helps to give them locations of pick-up and drop-off and approximate times.
[ report this ]
A couple of years ago I had a most amusing encounter with the LIRR's lost and found department at Penn Station after having lost an electronic workplace door card. After I decribed the nature of the lost item, the clerk handed me a shoebox chock-full of credit cards, ID badges, driver's licenses and even a couple passports. He then went into some back office, leaving me alone at the window for several minutes with this potential treasure-trove of lost documents. Absolutely nothing prevented me from grabbing a handful of documents and disappearing. Heck, I could have absconded with the whole box. While no doubt most of the credit cards had been cancelled, some might've been valid, and the nearby ticket vending machines offered a safe way of checking them.
[ report this ]
I always get a receipt when I am in a taxi, just in case I loose something.
Now the problem with the survey is that it was a very limited sample done by a few people and obviously done for political gain.
As for the LIRR lost and found, I once had a 35 mm camera fall out of my bag on the LIRR and they found it. When I got the roll of film developed, there was a photo of some LIRR back office on it.
[ report this ]
Yea you can tell the cabbies to not fall asleep at the wheel. That would be nice too. Im not very social and dont enjoy talking just to keep my driver awake. Red lights seem to be a famed spot to snatch a wink.
[ report this ]
My whole family came back from a cruise vaction and took a cab home from JFK. After we got home we realize that we left a bag with our camera in the cab. The camera has all our vacation photos in it. We called NYC taxi. They asked us for the receive. We don't have the receive because the driver told us that the recieve is for him to keep. Without the receive they couldn't locate the driver. So they gave us a police precinct phone number. We called, what we get is another number to call. Then a new number to call. Now I have 18 phone number infront of me to call. But none of them have my bag. Does anyone know how can I get my bag and my camera back. The vacation pictures are very valuable to us. Thank you.