Stagecoach has run the light rail network since 1997 but in March will hand over control to a company set up and owned by South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA).

Mr Coppard said SYMCA did not want to reach another agreement that would see a private operator “keep the profit” from busy services and claim taxpayer-funded subsidies to cover any losses.

Supertram has not been profitable since 2019, due to a significant drop in passenger numbers, and millions of pounds of funding is needed to upgrade the tracks, trams and other infrastructure.

The new company, South Yorkshire Future Trams Limited (SYFTL), is predicting £6.3m loss in 2024/25, but it expects financial pressures to ease in the coming years as energy prices (20 per cent of total costs) fall and ticket sales increase.

Mr Coppard said: “Risks exist whether you control the tram network or not. Any operator that wants to come in and take control of the tram network would have essentially tried to do a deal whereby they kept the profit but we had to absorb the losses.

“That's how it essentially works on the bus network and that’s why we’re going through a franchisee assessment process – to see whether or not we can take the buses back under public control.”

He added: “It's absolutely an opportunity for us to control how the trams work and make decisions in the interests of our communities.”

The Labour mayor also said any profit generated by the trams in the coming years will be reinvested into the 29 km network, to make improvements for passengers.

SYCA has secured £100m of government funding to upgrade and maintain the 30-year-old tram network so far, but said “significantly more” is needed.

Mr Coppard is confident he can secure additional funding from Westminster so the network can be upgraded and eventually extended beyond Sheffield and Rotherham.

“The tram network hasn't been invested in because it's not been under our control for most of the 30 years of its existence. But we’re turning that page and have an ambitious plan,” he said.

Supertram, which operates 2,650 services each week on four routes, was used by almost 15m passengers in 2010. But by 2019 that number had fallen to 11.5m.

Passenger numbers plummeted during the Covid-19 pandemic and the latest figures suggest the network is now used by fewer than 10m a year.

In a recent report, SYMCA said the decline has been “exacerbated by poor operational reliability and the deteriorating condition of customer-facing assets, such as tram stops, which are visibly in need of repair”.

Supertram was owned by a public body, when it opened in 1994, but it was privatised and sold to Stagecoach three years later.

The £241m network, which covers Sheffield, was extended to create a tram-train service which reaches Rotherham in 2018.

Supertram: Mayor says bringing trams under public control is a good 'deal' for taxpayers