The Oyster card, a form of electronic ticketing used on public transport services primarily within London, is traditionally blue but the special edition Jubilee cards will feature new designs such as the Queen's portrait. The special edition London 2012 cards, meanwhile, will feature images of sports undertaken at the Games.

About 250,000 Jubilee cards will be available from mid-May while 1.5 million London 2012 editions of the card will become available for travellers to purchase from mid-June at all London Underground stations in Zone 1 of the English capital.

Transport for London (TfL) has revealed that the commemorative cards will cost £10 ($16/€12), which includes a £5 ($8/€6) deposit and £5 credit.

"Transport will play a vital role in bringing people out to see the Queen during her Diamond Jubilee and in getting people to all of the sporting and cultural events during the London 2012 Games," said TfL's director of customer experience Shashi Verma.

"So it is fitting that we have limited edition Oyster cards that they can use and keep to mark these wonderful, once in a lifetime, occasions."

The move comes after TfL issued 750,000 special Oyster cards last April bearing a picture of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to mark the Royal Wedding which proved a major hit with the public.

The Oyster card is valid on a number of different travel systems across London including the London Underground, buses, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), London Overground, trams, some river boat services and most National Rail services within the London Fare Zones.

It is credit-card-sized and over 40 million Oyster cards have now been issued to London commuters.

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