A baby was left behind at an underground train station by its mother and grandmother as they tried to dodge paying their fare.
The incident happened at the Market-Frankford El station Philadelphia subway system when the two women approached the gates with the baby.
One had a a single, one-day convenience pass that allows one person to take eight rides, officials confirmed.
A transit official had punched the travel pass to allow the mother to enter the subway system, but then the mother handed the same pass over to the grandmother, who was going to take it away to use it at another station.
However, in their attempts to avoid detection by officials they quickly rushed off and left their baby behind at the station, each apparently thinking the other had taken the baby.
The stunned official took the baby to a station booth to keep warm, and it wasn't until the mother got to the next station down the line that she realised her baby was missing.
The baby was later returned to the mother, and according to officials there are no plans by the transport authorities to prosecute the women.