This story was interesting – there’s over $100 million on inactive and expired Myki cards.
After speaking to the journo about it, I checked my own cards… and discovered I had about $60 on an inactive card.
It’s the replacement of my old Yearly Pass card, originally bought for travel in 2020, but barely used. The Pass was paused, then refunded, but I’d forgotten about the Myki Money balance, and I’d been using another card in the meantime.
I also had left-over balance on my old Android “Myki Mobile” phone – which I should use up.
The problem is that although you can get money transferred or refunded when a card is no longer used, or is expired, many people don’t. It’s a hassle for departing tourists, and locals may just start using a newer card, and forget about the old one – as I did.
A big contributing factor is that cards expire every 4 years – for reasons that have never been explained.
The PTUA has called on the government to make an effort to contact registered cardholders, and to promote the options so unregistered cardholders are reminded too.
Whether they’ll actually do it, we’ll see.
If you’ve got some old Mykis sitting at home, I’d encourage you to check the balance. If there are cards not on your Myki online account, you can check a card balance/status on any NFC-enabled Android or iPhone using the PTV app.
If there’s money there, take it into a staffed railway station or contact PTV by phone or online and arrange a balance transfer or a refund.
Longer term, this is yet another problem that enabling credit card payments will solve for many people.
- Original HS article (paywalled)
- Follow-up 9 News article
9 replies on “Check your old Myki cards”
Even if you do remember to go to a staffed railway station (PTV Hub at SCS in my case) to merge unused fund to your new card, the old card will be taken away with the card cost unrefunded.
Ever since we had Myki, I was given a new card every time I renewed Commuter Club so I had countless cards at home. Since Covid, I haven’t need the yearly and have just had the card on my Android phone (but now you made me think I should check my old phone). As for the physical cards, I used them until they went into the negative so I guess I am causing the government the opposite problem…
You’ve also reminded me that I have unused credit from the Gold Coast on Go cards I bought last year that I need to send off for refund – didn’t know I could just use a credit card up there.
In 2019 my partner tried to get a Myki refund at Flinders Street and was told to go to Spencer Street where it could be done. It is only a couple of dollars, so he has never bothered. Even if the government is proactive, I think less than half would be returned.
interesting to know that the card balance can be read from the PTV app directly, whether the card is registered or not, that’s actually a cool feature …
If I’m told my (unregistered) card has expired, does that mean I have no chance of getting any balance off it? Or just that I need to call the 1800 800 007 number to do so?
AFAIK staffed railway stations can only do expired card renewals. Refunds and transfers to combine balances can only be done by PTV online, phone or the PTV hub
While using credit cards for public transport might be a good idea at first, it might be problematic for those without a bank account or those who don’t have a credit card (which tend to be more vulnerable people); and even with credit cards, it can only charge full fare and not concession, which could be problematic for those who can’t afford full fare such as those on social security, students, seniors, the homeless, low-pay workers, etc. (this is the case in Sydney and many other cities that use credit cards to pay for public transport). My suggestion here is this: keep Myki for those who want concession fares (and cut the cost for the Myki), while providing support for credit cards for those who want to pay full fare.
@Liz, the Qld system is still in the process of phasing in credit card payments. Not sure what the timeline is.
@Andrew, I think @Tramologist (above) is right… you can do balance transfers onto a new (free replacement) card at any staffed station, but issuing refunds can only be done at the PTV hub or online/via phone.
@Malcolm, it’s pretty neat… and they haven’t been great at promoting this. (Remember the card is the point of truth for your balance, whether it’s registered or not.)
@Damon, you should be able to present your expired card at a staffed railway station and get a free replacement with the balance transferred. Or you can request a refund from PTV via phone, yes.
@indigohex3, nobody is suggesting getting rid of dedicated public transport cards. They’ll still be needed for a number of people – including those on full fares who want to travel on an anonymous card and/or don’t want to have the PT system linked to their bank account.
Never knew I could check balances on the app – Instantly helped us cull some old cards that wereent registered.
No idea why you can only have 10 cards registered, but the ability to check on the app helps manage them