If you haven’t used your Opal card for a while, you’re about to lose your balance

The NSW Labor government will recover the unspent balances of millions of Opal cards which have not been used since the start of the pandemic, raking in a one-off revenue hit of $70 million.

Transport for NSW estimates there are 17 million Opal cards with positive balances that are not registered, meaning the government cannot track down their owners.

Dig out your old Opal cards before the government takes back your balance.Credit: Wolter Peeters

The government believes many of the abandoned cards once belonged to interstate or international visitors who bought one-off Opal credit on unregistered cards and left NSW with a small remaining balance.

A new bill to be introduced to state parliament on Wednesday will allow the government to take the unspent balances on cards which have not been touched for five years to reinvest in other transport initiatives, including Opal bike lockers at new Metro stations.

The averaged unused balance per card is $4, which would net the government about $70 million.

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A 12-month communications campaign will precede the recovery of unused balances and anyone with a card that has not been used in five years can recover their funds in that time.

The government said the one-off revenue source will be reinvested into active transport-related initiatives, such as more bike lockers, and establishing a better system for shared e-bikes, including taking them off footpaths.

There are more than 830 bike lockers at 110 locations on the network, which can be accessed using an Opal card, but the government wants to expand the scheme to allow more commuters to ride to stations. Rental costs range from $50 for three months to $180 for 12 months.

The bill will propose amending the Passenger Transport Act 2014 to allow Transport for NSW to recover the unused balances under a new scheme. The current terms of use cannot be amended without user consent.

Minister for Transport John Graham said Sydney was a global destination and a magnet for visitors, which was one reason why there may be so many unused Opal cards.

“This bill proposes to put those otherwise unused funds into Transport investments, particularly much-needed initiatives that will connect people to transport hubs by better active transport infrastructure and Opal-powered bike lockers,” Graham said.

“These are things that will benefit the people of NSW using the network every day.”

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