Michael Hoffman wrote:


Personally I doubt it. Although I could be convinced with the
appropriate experiment, which would be relatively easy to do--just
stop making the announcements on a particular stretch of the system
for a month and see what changes in lost items are experienced.

There is already substantial evidence that people leave things on trains and
buses when not reminded. Announcements to remind people to take their
belongings are very recent in the history of train and bus travel. In
previous years the Lost Property Office did a roaring trade in returning
lost items to their owners and selling off unclaimed property to help LT's
funds.

Whether or not the announcements have actually caused a reduction in lost
property I don't know.