Irving Park (Brown Line) station ridership increased by 189.6 percent during November 2021 compared to the previous year, according to the Chicago Transportation Authority.
The CTA calculates ridership by counting the customers who board a transit vehicle (bus or rail).
UIC-Halsted station saw the largest increase in ridership with a 405.3 percent rise.
Rail and bus traffic took a serious hit during the pandemic. The Metra, which provides service to many of Chicago’s suburbs, saw a 97% decrease in ridership according to the Active Transportation Alliance. According to the Federal Transit Authority, Chicago’s public transportation sector received $1.43 billion in bailout funds from the CARES act to combat the decrease in ridership.
However, the CTA claimed ridership had rebounded 56 percent in the first six months of 2021. CTA’s president Dorval R. Cart Jr. said weekday ridership has doubled since the initial shutdown.
Train Stations with Largest Increases in Ridership
| Rank | Station | Ridership increase from 2020 to 2021 (%) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | UIC-Halsted | 405.3 |
| 2 | Fullerton | 282.6 |
| 3 | Quincy/Wells | 276.3 |
| 4 | Merchandise Mart | 269.1 |
| 5 | Racine | 265.6 |
| 6 | Noyes | 261.9 |
| 7 | Harrison | 240.7 |
| 8 | Foster | 232.4 |
| 9 | Addison (Red Line – North Side) | 230.8 |
| 10 | Armitage | 229.5 |
| 11 | Monroe (Blue Line – Dearborn Subway) | 224.1 |
| 12 | LaSalle | 219.6 |
| 13 | Southport | 214.4 |
| 14 | Damen (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 210.4 |
| 15 | Grand (Red Line – North Side) | 209.9 |
| 16 | Washington | 206.3 |
| 17 | Morgan | 204.4 |
| 18 | Damen (Brown Line) | 196.1 |
| 19 | Addison (Brown Line) | 194.9 |
| 20 | Division | 194.7 |
| 21 | California (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 191.5 |
| 22 | Washington/Wells | 190.9 |
| 23 | Clark/Lake | 190.8 |
| 24 | Sedgwick | 190.5 |
| 25 | Irving Park (Brown Line) | 189.6 |
| 26 | Jackson (Red Line – State Street Subway) | 189.2 |
| 27 | Chicago (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 186.1 |
| 28 | Western (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 185.3 |
| 29 | Argyle | 184.5 |
| 30 | Adams/Wabash | 184.3 |
| 31 | Monroe (Red Line – State Street Subway) | 179.5 |
| 32 | Rockwell | 179.4 |
| 33 | Harold Washington Library | 177.7 |
| 34 | Cermak-Chinatown | 177.5 |
| 35 | Diversey | 172.7 |
| 36 | State/Lake | 172.3 |
| 37 | Grand (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 169.8 |
| 37 | Wellington | 169.8 |
| 39 | Jackson (Blue Line – Dearborn Subway) | 167.8 |
| 40 | Lake | 165.3 |
| 41 | Loyola | 164.6 |
| 42 | Belmont (Red Line – North Side) | 161.7 |
| 43 | Paulina | 160 |
| 44 | Logan Square | 156.5 |
| 45 | Clinton (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 153.6 |
| 46 | Francisco | 152.5 |
| 47 | Montrose (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 151.2 |
| 48 | Clark/Division | 150.1 |
| 49 | Clinton (Green Line – Lake Street) | 149 |
| 50 | LaSalle/Van Buren | 148 |
| 51 | O’Hare Airport | 145.8 |
| 52 | Montrose (Brown Line) | 145.7 |
| 53 | Washington/Wabash | 145.5 |
| 54 | Chicago (Red Line – North Side) | 142.2 |
| 55 | Addison (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 139.2 |
| 56 | Granville | 136.5 |
| 57 | Chicago (Brown Line) | 133.4 |
| 58 | Ridgeland | 130.6 |
| 59 | Sheridan | 129.1 |
| 60 | Halsted (Orange Line) | 128.9 |
| 61 | Wilson | 128.5 |
| 62 | Oak Park (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 127.8 |
| 63 | Oak Park (Green Line – Lake Street) | 126.7 |
| 64 | Midway Airport | 125.1 |
| 65 | Pulaski (Orange Line) | 122.3 |
| 66 | Damen (Pink Line) | 119.5 |
| 67 | Cermak | 119.1 |
| 68 | 35-Bronzeville-IIT | 118.7 |
| 69 | 35th/Archer | 117.4 |
| 70 | Linden | 114.6 |
| 70 | Main | 114.6 |
| 72 | North/Clybourn | 112.6 |
| 73 | Western (Brown Line) | 110.9 |
| 74 | Thorndale | 109.1 |
| 75 | Cumberland | 106.7 |
| 76 | Belmont (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 105.9 |
| 77 | Medical Center | 103.1 |
| 78 | Davis | 102.2 |
| 79 | Kedzie (Brown Line) | 97 |
| 80 | 18th | 96.4 |
| 81 | Harlem (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 96.2 |
| 82 | Bryn Mawr | 95.5 |
| 83 | Oakton | 95 |
| 83 | Central (Purple Line – Evanston) | 95 |
| 85 | Sox-35th | 91.4 |
| 86 | Dempster | 91.2 |
| 87 | Ashland (Green Line – Lake Street) | 90.7 |
| 88 | Roosevelt | 90 |
| 89 | Kimball | 87.9 |
| 90 | Polk | 87.4 |
| 90 | Kedzie (Orange Line) | 87.4 |
| 92 | Morse | 86.1 |
| 93 | Dempster-Skokie | 85.6 |
| 94 | Jarvis | 80.7 |
| 95 | South Boulevard | 79.4 |
| 96 | Irving Park (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 78.1 |
| 97 | Western (Orange Line) | 76.5 |
| 98 | Western (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 76.3 |
| 99 | Rosemont | 71.8 |
| 100 | Jefferson Park | 64.8 |
| 101 | California (Pink Line) | 61 |
| 102 | Ashland (Orange Line) | 60.1 |
| 103 | 54th/Cermak | 58.3 |
| 104 | Western (Pink Line) | 54.3 |
| 105 | Austin (Green Line – Lake Street) | 50.1 |
| 106 | Garfield (Green Line – South Elevated) | 49.5 |
| 107 | Indiana | 47.5 |
| 108 | Central Park | 47.4 |
| 109 | California (Green Line – Lake Street) | 45.6 |
| 110 | East 63rd-Cottage Grove | 43.1 |
| 111 | Austin (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 42.8 |
| 112 | Kedzie (Pink Line) | 41.6 |
| 113 | Kedzie (Green Line – Lake Street) | 41.3 |
| 114 | Howard | 40.1 |
| 115 | Garfield (Red Line – Dan Ryan) | 38.5 |
| 116 | Harlem (Green Line – Lake Street) | 36.5 |
| 117 | 51st | 36 |
| 118 | 43rd | 33.1 |
| 119 | 47th (Green Line – South Elevated) | 32.3 |
| 120 | 47th (Red Line – Dan Ryan) | 29.6 |
| 121 | Cicero (Pink Line) | 28.6 |
| 122 | Pulaski (Pink Line) | 28.5 |
| 123 | Kostner | 27.1 |
| 124 | Forest Park | 25.7 |
| 125 | Cicero (Green Line – Lake Street) | 22.9 |
| 126 | 69th | 21.2 |
| 127 | 87th | 20.8 |
| 128 | 63rd | 19.2 |
| 129 | Conservatory | 18.9 |
| 130 | Central (Green Line – Lake Street) | 18.3 |
| 131 | Laramie | 17.2 |
| 132 | Halsted (Green Line – Ashland/63rd Branch) | 16.8 |
| 133 | Kildare | 16.6 |
| 134 | 79th | 16.1 |
| 135 | Ashland/63rd | 15.1 |
| 136 | Harlem (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 14.1 |
| 137 | 95/Dan Ryan | 13.5 |
| 137 | King Drive | 13.5 |
| 139 | Cicero (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 11.6 |
| 140 | Pulaski (Green Line – Lake Street) | 10.3 |
| 141 | Kedzie-Homan | 3.2 |
