Online renewal of London Transit smart cards remains offline at least for another few days, as a bug that prevented cards from loading properly is still under repair.

Kelly Paleczny, general manager of the London Transit Commission, said she expects the issues will be fixed by March 20, in time for customers to pay for their April monthly fares.

The glitch in the transit company’s month-old smart card program meant riders weren’t able to load March cards online properly — the in-bus readers registered error codes — and instead had to renew them only at the London Transit Commission’s Highbury Avenue and Dundas/Richmond offices.

“We’re just completing that testing and we hope to have that fix done by March 20, which is when April passes go on sale,” Paleczny said Tuesday.

“We’re trying to be careful and touch all the bases before we roll it out.”

The system has had several stops and starts since the LTC decided four years ago to move to a reloadable pass.

Fanshawe College students were the first to try the smart-card system, which ultimately is expected to eliminate the paper passes now in common use.

But when the program was extended to the general public and the online glitch became known, the LTC said pass purchases and renewals could take place only in person.

Some riders also experienced random fail messages, but they seem to have stopped now that riders have turned in those faulty cards, Paleczny said.