The Australian Federal Police are increasingly turning to public transport data and personal information collected from Canberra's MyWay ticketing system to help in investigations.
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Police have requested MyWay users' travel history or contact details 24 times since July 2014, showing a rise in the frequency of requests compared with the first four years of MyWay's operation in Canberra.
Between 2010 and July last year, police requested information from the ACTION bus network 27 times, with 16 requests resulting in information being handed over.
Data linked to individual MyWay cards, maintained by a contractor on behalf of the ACT government, can be disclosed to federal agencies including the AFP, the Australian Tax Office and Centrelink. It is made available when required in law enforcement, missing persons cases, the collection of fines or for the protection of public revenue.
Australian Federal Police require a warrant to access MyWay data for evidential reasons.
A spokeswoman said 23 of the requests since last year had been made on the grounds of the enforcement of criminal law, while one request was related to a Coronial inquest.
Of the recent requests, nine resulted in information being provided to police while 15 were not satisfied because not data was not found "to match the specifics requested".
No requests for information had come from other agencies such as the ATO or Centrelink.
Requests for data from smartcard users have previously drawn criticism from privacy experts and civil liberties groups.
The number of MyWay cards issued and in use has also grown significantly.
In 2014 there were more than 304,000 MyWay cards in active circulation, with records kept for 373,455 cards. As of this month, the total number of cards issued has grown to 463,097.
The spokeswoman said 368,196 of the cards were currently active. ACT government data from March 2015 estimated the territory's population at 389,747 people.
An Australian Federal Police spokesman said police can seek MyWay data without a warrant in a life threatening or safety situation.
"For example, where a missing person is reported or there are concerns for a person's well-being police can seek MyWay information.
"Governance is well-established around the acquisition of this data for investigative purposes, and police use it only when necessary to an investigation," the spokesman said. "Timeliness can be vital in a police investigation, particularly when a person's life or safety may be under immediate threat."
ACT law requires records for the cards to be kept a minimum of seven years, while user data from deactivated MyWay cards is also held for the same period.
Staff working for the private company that runs the system have their access to data regularly reviewed and only those involved in MyWay's operations or customer account inquiries can access personal information.
In NSW, registered Opal travel cards have been accessed by police 166 times since December 2014 and 15 times by the Department of Immigration. There, users' personal information was disclosed 57 times.
In Queensland, authorities requested information from Go Card travel cards almost 11,000 times between 2006 and 2014.
The ACT government's new Transport Canberra agency will begin operations in July next year, bringing together ACTION services and coordination of the planned city to Gungahlin tram line. One ticket will operate on both modes of transport.
The government will consider licensing Sydney's Opal card system as part of upgrades to public transport services in the capital.
