Kedzie (Green Line – Lake Street) station ridership increased by 9.8 percent during August 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).
Addison (Red Line – North Side) station saw the largest increase in ridership with a 417.6 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 | Addison (Red Line – North Side) | 417.6 |
| 2 | Merchandise Mart | 265.6 |
| 3 | UIC-Halsted | 234 |
| 4 | Harrison | 228.4 |
| 5 | Grand (Red Line – North Side) | 225.2 |
| 6 | Quincy/Wells | 220 |
| 7 | Sedgwick | 215.4 |
| 8 | Southport | 196.6 |
| 9 | Monroe (Blue Line – Dearborn Subway) | 193.4 |
| 10 | Armitage | 188 |
| 11 | Sox-35th | 187.4 |
| 12 | State/Lake | 180.8 |
| 13 | Damen (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 180 |
| 14 | Cermak-Chinatown | 178.7 |
| 15 | Morgan | 178.1 |
| 16 | LaSalle | 176.6 |
| 17 | Washington | 174.5 |
| 18 | Fullerton | 167.6 |
| 19 | Monroe (Red Line – State Street Subway) | 163.9 |
| 20 | Adams/Wabash | 163.3 |
| 21 | Bryn Mawr | 162.2 |
| 22 | California (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 160.9 |
| 23 | Clark/Lake | 155 |
| 23 | Argyle | 155 |
| 25 | Thorndale | 153.9 |
| 26 | Grand (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 151.2 |
| 27 | Granville | 150.9 |
| 28 | Chicago (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 149.6 |
| 29 | Clark/Division | 149.2 |
| 30 | Paulina | 148.4 |
| 31 | Wellington | 148.3 |
| 32 | Lake | 146.8 |
| 33 | Belmont (Red Line – North Side) | 146.6 |
| 34 | Racine | 145 |
| 35 | Washington/Wells | 144.4 |
| 36 | Damen (Brown Line) | 142.8 |
| 37 | Noyes | 141.9 |
| 38 | Clinton (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 141.5 |
| 39 | Division | 140 |
| 40 | Diversey | 139.2 |
| 41 | Linden | 137.8 |
| 42 | Rockwell | 136.1 |
| 43 | Harold Washington Library | 135.5 |
| 44 | Jackson (Red Line – State Street Subway) | 135.2 |
| 45 | Addison (Brown Line) | 134.4 |
| 46 | Jackson (Blue Line – Dearborn Subway) | 133.4 |
| 47 | Western (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 130.6 |
| 48 | Clinton (Green Line – Lake Street) | 129.1 |
| 49 | Irving Park (Brown Line) | 127.8 |
| 50 | Chicago (Red Line – North Side) | 127.5 |
| 51 | Montrose (Brown Line) | 127 |
| 52 | Chicago (Brown Line) | 126.3 |
| 53 | O’Hare Airport | 125 |
| 54 | LaSalle/Van Buren | 123.2 |
| 55 | Washington/Wabash | 121.6 |
| 56 | Foster | 117.6 |
| 57 | 35-Bronzeville-IIT | 115.9 |
| 58 | Cermak | 115.4 |
| 59 | Sheridan | 114.9 |
| 60 | Logan Square | 111.5 |
| 61 | Ridgeland | 108.3 |
| 62 | Roosevelt | 100.5 |
| 63 | Addison (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 100 |
| 64 | Wilson | 98.5 |
| 65 | Francisco | 97.4 |
| 66 | North/Clybourn | 94.7 |
| 67 | Midway Airport | 92.9 |
| 68 | Oak Park (Green Line – Lake Street) | 88.9 |
| 69 | Oak Park (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 88.2 |
| 70 | Dempster | 86.3 |
| 71 | 18th | 85.2 |
| 72 | Damen (Pink Line) | 80 |
| 73 | Dempster-Skokie | 79.4 |
| 74 | Cumberland | 78.7 |
| 75 | California (Pink Line) | 78.6 |
| 76 | Western (Brown Line) | 76.3 |
| 77 | Halsted (Orange Line) | 74.9 |
| 78 | 35th/Archer | 72.9 |
| 79 | Belmont (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 72.6 |
| 80 | Ashland (Green Line – Lake Street) | 71.5 |
| 81 | Oakton | 70.5 |
| 82 | Main | 70.4 |
| 83 | Loyola | 69.1 |
| 84 | Rosemont | 67.8 |
| 85 | Polk | 63.8 |
| 86 | Davis | 63.6 |
| 87 | Harlem (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 62.7 |
| 88 | Central (Purple Line – Evanston) | 58.2 |
| 89 | Pulaski (Orange Line) | 56.6 |
| 90 | Irving Park (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 56.3 |
| 91 | South Boulevard | 55.3 |
| 92 | Montrose (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 54.5 |
| 93 | Kimball | 52.3 |
| 94 | Morse | 50.5 |
| 95 | Kedzie (Pink Line) | 49.7 |
| 96 | 54th/Cermak | 49.6 |
| 97 | Medical Center | 48.9 |
| 98 | Jarvis | 48.8 |
| 99 | Jefferson Park | 48.4 |
| 100 | Kedzie (Brown Line) | 47.5 |
| 101 | Kedzie (Orange Line) | 45.9 |
| 102 | Western (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 44.8 |
| 103 | Western (Orange Line) | 43.6 |
| 104 | Western (Pink Line) | 42.4 |
| 105 | Garfield (Green Line – South Elevated) | 40.3 |
| 106 | Ashland (Orange Line) | 37.6 |
| 107 | Conservatory | 30.7 |
| 108 | Kostner | 30.1 |
| 109 | Austin (Green Line – Lake Street) | 30 |
| 110 | Harlem (Green Line – Lake Street) | 29 |
| 110 | Howard | 29 |
| 112 | East 63rd-Cottage Grove | 27.3 |
| 113 | 43rd | 25.9 |
| 114 | Austin (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 25.3 |
| 115 | Indiana | 23 |
| 116 | 51st | 21.2 |
| 117 | Central Park | 20.2 |
| 118 | Garfield (Red Line – Dan Ryan) | 19.6 |
| 119 | Cicero (Pink Line) | 19.4 |
| 120 | California (Green Line – Lake Street) | 19.2 |
| 121 | Forest Park | 17.4 |
| 122 | 47th (Red Line – Dan Ryan) | 17.3 |
| 123 | 47th (Green Line – South Elevated) | 17 |
| 123 | Halsted (Green Line – Ashland/63rd Branch) | 17 |
| 125 | Pulaski (Green Line – Lake Street) | 16.1 |
| 126 | Ashland/63rd | 15.2 |
| 127 | Kedzie-Homan | 12.8 |
| 128 | 69th | 11.5 |
| 129 | Pulaski (Pink Line) | 11.4 |
| 130 | Central (Green Line – Lake Street) | 9.9 |
| 131 | Kedzie (Green Line – Lake Street) | 9.8 |
| 132 | 87th | 8.5 |
| 132 | Harlem (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 8.5 |
| 134 | 63rd | 7.4 |
| 135 | Laramie | 6.9 |
| 136 | Pulaski (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 5.8 |
| 137 | Cicero (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 5.7 |
| 138 | Cicero (Green Line – Lake Street) | 5.5 |
| 139 | 79th | 3.7 |
| 140 | 95/Dan Ryan | 3.5 |
| 141 | King Drive | 3.3 |
| 142 | Kildare | 2.5 |
