A British transit system is sitting on a pile of cash from deposits and unused card balances, leaving critics wondering if TransLink’s new Compass Card system is going to take more money from riders than advertised.

Transit for London, the transit system that operates the London Underground in England, is sitting on £100-million – the equivalent of $160-million Canadian– of money from deposits and lost cards.

“When we heard that London had £100-million, that’s a sizable amount of money. I don’t know how anyone could feel comfortable about an organization claiming that cash for free,” said Nathan Woods of Unifor Local 111, the organization that represents bus drivers.

TransLink is testing the Compass Card, a new way of paying for transit that involves a reloadable card. The digital way to pay helps TransLink track which routes are being used the most and better allocated resources.

The card itself costs a $6 deposit, and riders can put money on the card. If the cards are registered with TransLink, then if a card goes missing TransLink can repay the money.

The Oyster Card in London is designed by the same company. In that case, a freedom of information request this summer by the Liberal Democrat party revealed that there were £46.6-million in deposits, as well as £53-million of credit on dormant cards, which have not been used for 12 months.

The Liberal Democrats have called on Transit for London to release the money more quickly to subscribers. TfL offers a similar registration system to TransLink’s.

CTV News asked several other transit systems operated by San Diego company Cubic, including San Francisco, what their balances were but did not receive a response.

Here in Metro Vancouver, there is no money in the bank account, as the system is currently in beta test. But TransLink VP Mike Madill says that TransLink will keep track of the money for riders.

“We hold it in a special account that we have for stored value,” he said. “We have to track that according to accounting rules.”

The interest on the account, when it has money, will go to TransLink to fund services. Madill didn’t have an estimate of how much money that would be.

Riders who register can refund their deposits and cash balances, but those who forget or don’t register will find their card balances claimed by TransLink after the required seven years.

“If nobody turns it in, it gets destroyed, and that money stays with TransLink,” Madill said.

He said the new system will be better for riders because under the current system a lost transit pass can’t be replaced.

Jordan Bateman of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said that anyone who registers risks losing some privacy, as their location will be recorded in the Compass system.

“If they don’t want to register to protect their privacy, they’re going to be out of luck if they lose their card,” he said.