Sheffield Supertram

Sheffield Supertram

The Supertram, officially called the Stagecoach Supertram, is a light rail tram system in the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is owned by the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE), who own the infrastructure, and Stagecoach who operate and maintain the vehicles.

Following a parliamentary act in 1985 authorising the scheme, the system was built by SYPTE at a cost of £240 million, and opened in stages between 1994 and 1995. It was initially operated by South Yorkshire Supertram Ltd (SYSL), a wholly owned subsidiary company of SYPTE. After lower than expected passenger revenue, SYSL was sold to Stagecoach for £1.15 million at the end of 1997. With the sale of SYSL, Stagecoach gained the concession to maintain and operate the Supertram trams until 2024. There were 7.8m passenger journeys in 1996/7, growing to 15.0m in 2011/12.

Launched in an initial light grey livery, following the takeover by Stagecoach the trams wore the Stagecoach corporate livery from 1997. From 2006 the trams were refurbished, and a new dedicated Supertram blue based livery was launched, rolled out by 2008. Ticketing is integrated with the Stagecoach Sheffield bus operations, purchased by Stagecoach in 2005.

It was announced on 28 January 2013 that a new Supertram line will be built from Meadowhall to Dore in southwest Sheffield in order to improve connections to the new Sheffield Meadowhall high speed rail station.