Just curious. I have an on-loan octopus card. I opted not to return it and get the deposit money for souvenir purposes. I'm just wondering if there is an expiry to it. It was last used on September 2013. If my plan to travel to HK next month pushes through, I'm curious if I could still use the card and have it reloaded OR if there's a need for me to get a new one. Any input would be greatly appreciated. TIA
Hi! The HK Octopus Card does deactivate when unused for 1,000 days or more. You need to have added value to it for it to stay active. However, since it's already been three years already, there's a chance that your card is already deactivated. But the good news is that you can have it reactivated at any Customer Service Centre at MTR Stations. This won't cost you anything as well. I hope this helps! Enjoy your trip!
We have been using the HK Octopus - we travel to Hongkong every year since 2012. The card has an expiration so what we do is to load whatever we think we need for the MTR (trains) and the tram. And before leaving Hongkong, we surrender the card in any train station for a refund. It's always like that so there's no wastage unlike in Singapore where there is refund but $5 will be retained in the card so instead of refunding and throwing away the $5, we just retain the card which can be reused within 1 year.
