What is an Oyster Card Wallet?

Oyster card wallets are simply plastic wallets designed to carry and protect London oyster cards for the city’s travellers and commuters. The oyster card is an electronic ticket that can be used to pay for travel on the public transport throughout Greater London. Oyster card wallets not only house and protect the credit card sized travel cards, but they also offer a marketing, advertising and promotional opportunity for businesses of all sizes.

What was the purpose of the Oyster Card Wallet?

The London transport oyster card was introduced in July of 2003. By mid 2010 there were in excess of 34 million cards in circulation. Some 80 percent of all journeys made in Transport of London services were paid for through the oyster card. It doesn’t take much of a mathematical mind to work out that if only a relatively small proportion of those travelers used oyster card wallets, the advertising and promotional opportunities are huge.

Of course, a very large proportion of travelers who use the oyster card also have the distinctive blue coloured card kept securely in a plastic wallet of some kind. The majority of these wallets have some form of printing on them, often company advertising of some sort. The wallets are often given away free in promotional efforts, or are cheap to buy, as it is definitely in the company’s interests to have the printed wallets distributed as widely as possible.

Get creative with your promotional material

Many print companies will be only too glad to design or personalise oyster card wallets for a business seeking to discover a new promotional marketing outlet. Full colour litho printing will give the full ranges of colours and present endless opportunities for serious creativity. Print runs can be small, a few hundred or so, or they can be large, running into many tens of thousands. Most print shops will also offer very competitive rates, especially for large print runs.

Oyster card wallets come in many shapes, colours and even sizes to some extent. They are most commonly available in durable plastic, but can be made in a wide range of suitable materials. Creating a highly distinctive design of oyster card wallets offers an excellent marketing opportunity and is something a little quirkier than standard marketing material and is likely to get noticed and remembered by all who come into contact with it.