New Delhi: What do a western commode, a TV set, a broom, dumbbells, a bike handle and three packets of milk have in common? These are among the things that passengers in India left behind in their Uber over the past year, according to the 2023 edition of Uber’s annual Lost and Found Index.
According to the index, released Tuesday, passengers in Delhi are more prone to leaving things behind in their cab, earning it the title of the ‘most forgetful city’ in the country. Mumbai, which held on to the title in 2022 and 2021, came in second this time, while Hyderabad made its debut in the list of the top four ‘most forgetful cities’ at the number three spot, followed by Bangalore at number four.
The report is based on data collected by the company between June 2022 and April 2023.
On the list of items most commonly left behind by customers in an Uber are phones, laptop bags, wallets, clothing, headphones, water bottles, spectacles/sunglasses, keys, jewellery and watches.
However, Indians also left behind some odd items in their Uber including a western commode, a TV set, ghewar (a Rajasthani delicacy), flutes, dumbbells, a bike handle, cricket bats, spike guards, a broom, a walking stick, an induction stove and to top it all, a family collage.
“We’ve all been there: that moment of panic when you first realise you’ve misplaced an important, or even sentimental, personal item…This annual survey is a fun and informative way of reminding our riders how easy it is to raise a retrieval request for a lost item in-app, and with a busy summer travel season on the anvil, we thought it was a good time for a quick refresher,” Uber India director (central operations) Nitish Bhushan said in a statement accompanying the 2023 annual Lost and Found Index.
According to data collated by Uber, customers in India are most likely to forget belongings in an Uber on Saturdays, with most items being left behind around 7 PM.
For Uber customers, the top three most forgetful dates for the period under review were over a span of two weeks in 2023 — 26 March, 8 April, and 9 April. The index also found that Saturday, Sunday and Friday, were the most ‘forgetful days’ of the week for customers in India.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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