The first nationwide smartcard-based travel scheme launches next month, but the majority of passengers outside London will not be able to use the advanced functions.

The Concessionary Bus Travel Act comes into force on 1 April, giving senior and disabled citizens free off-peak travel by bus anywhere in England ­ building on current free passes available for local services.

The Department for Transport has mandated use of the Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation (ITSO) standard for all free passes, but bus operators are not yet required to have the necessary onboard card-reading equipment.

Cards will be issued to a single design and used on a show-and-go basis in most of the country until 2010, when the national specification will be enforced.

A few regional bus operators are introducing smartcards, and London’s Freedom Pass ­ which uses the capital’s Oyster card technology ­ has been in place for some time, although it is based on a different standard to ITSO.

Rushed implementation time-scales for ITSO cards did not allow full assessment of the benefits of the new system against existing local smartcard arrangements, such as those used in libraries, said an IT manager at a West Midlands council, who asked to remain anonymous.

“And the passes will not serve one of their main purposes immediately, which is calculating journey reimbursement between local authorities and bus operators,” he said.

Transport for London (TfL) will replace 21,000 readers to accept both ITSO and Oyster cards by 2010, but there is still a lot to be done, said TfL’s director of fares and ticketing Shashi Verma.

“We are working on the design of the new readers and will then move on to prototype testing and manufacturing, with a view to start trials by mid-2009,” he said.

Marrying the two standards is a simple task compared to that faced by other local authorities, said Verma.

“There are a number of ITSO readers, ticketing structures and back-office systems in the market, so the integration challenges are much tougher,” he said.

The standard passes are meant to boost uptake of smart ticketing, but issues such as a lack of interest from train operators is hindering progress. Rail firms are unwilling to invest in card projects that do not allow a payback within their franchise periods.