Unused value of ez-link cards should be returned

I recently visited the TransitLink customer service office to return an expired ez-link card with a small residual value, which I was told was neither refundable nor usable, as the card had expired.

I was offered a replacement card, with no value within, for a fee. It could not be offset by the unused value in the expired card either.

There may be many commuters with ez-link cards that are out of sight and forgotten. There is thus a potentially huge amount of latent monetary value lying around.

Given that ez-link cards expire, and the unused value could remain unclaimed for years or never claimed, how do we account for this money, which does not belong to the card issuer? Where did it go?

Owners of a prepaid ez-link card should have the option to register it, so that any underutilised value should be refunded automatically upon its expiry, to address the issue of accountability.