FareClaim expands to Sydney and Melbourne to automatically detect hidden public transport overcharges

FareClaim, a commuter advocate web application that scans public transport statements for overcharges and unknown fixed fares, has expanded its service to support Sydney Opal and Melbourne Myki users.

Commuters in New South Wales and Victoria lose money every week to default fares. When a passenger forgets to tap off, or when a station reader fails to register a tap, the transit network automatically deducts a maximum default charge. In Sydney, this can be the highest Opal fare for that mode of transport. In Melbourne, it defaults to a 2-hour Zone 1 and 2 Myki fare.

Most commuters never notice the charge because they do not manually reconcile their transit statements line by line.

FareClaim automates this detection. Users can now upload their Opal or Myki transit statements in PDF or CSV format directly to the app. The platform scans the document locally in the browser for incomplete journeys and flags every default fare. This gives commuters a direct list of charges they can submit to Transport for NSW or Public Transport Victoria for a refund.

The expansion follows FareClaim's initial launch in South East Queensland, where it processed Go Card statements for Brisbane commuters.

Built by Jason Tan in Brisbane, FareClaim does not store or share user travel data. All statement processing happens directly on the user's device.