Oak Park (Blue Line – Forest Park) station ridership increased by 76.6 percent during April 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).
Merchandise Mart station saw the largest increase in ridership with a 526.2 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 the year. This isn’t a return to normal ridership levels, but 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 | Merchandise Mart | 526.2 |
| 2 | Addison (Red Line – North Side) | 461.2 |
| 3 | Southport | 417 |
| 4 | Armitage | 404.4 |
| 5 | Harrison | 338.1 |
| 6 | Grand (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 337.2 |
| 7 | Damen (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 326 |
| 8 | Grand (Red Line – North Side) | 309.6 |
| 9 | Noyes | 301 |
| 10 | Morgan | 299.9 |
| 11 | Division | 269.3 |
| 12 | Fullerton | 265.9 |
| 13 | Washington | 264 |
| 14 | Washington/Wabash | 254.7 |
| 15 | Chicago (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 246.5 |
| 16 | Belmont (Red Line – North Side) | 242 |
| 16 | California (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 242 |
| 18 | Damen (Brown Line) | 237.6 |
| 19 | State/Lake | 236.9 |
| 20 | Western (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 234.6 |
| 21 | LaSalle | 232.1 |
| 22 | Cermak-Chinatown | 226.9 |
| 23 | Diversey | 221.4 |
| 24 | Logan Square | 220.5 |
| 25 | Francisco | 215.5 |
| 26 | Chicago (Brown Line) | 214.7 |
| 27 | Wellington | 207.1 |
| 28 | Rockwell | 202.5 |
| 29 | Clark/Lake | 202 |
| 30 | Irving Park (Brown Line) | 200.2 |
| 31 | Chicago (Red Line – North Side) | 200 |
| 31 | Lake | 200 |
| 33 | Paulina | 196.8 |
| 34 | North/Clybourn | 194.9 |
| 35 | Addison (Brown Line) | 191.2 |
| 36 | 18th | 189 |
| 36 | Sedgwick | 189 |
| 38 | Polk | 188.2 |
| 39 | Foster | 186.6 |
| 40 | Damen (Pink Line) | 186.1 |
| 41 | Sheridan | 185.5 |
| 42 | Monroe (Blue Line – Dearborn Subway) | 185 |
| 42 | Oak Park (Green Line – Lake Street) | 185 |
| 44 | Montrose (Brown Line) | 184.3 |
| 45 | Quincy/Wells | 180.4 |
| 46 | Clinton (Green Line – Lake Street) | 176.3 |
| 47 | Monroe (Red Line – State Street Subway) | 173.6 |
| 48 | Washington/Wells | 170.1 |
| 49 | Racine | 166.4 |
| 50 | Adams/Wabash | 163.8 |
| 51 | UIC-Halsted | 161.3 |
| 52 | Clark/Division | 158.1 |
| 53 | Western (Brown Line) | 157.9 |
| 54 | 35th/Archer | 157.6 |
| 55 | Kedzie (Brown Line) | 155.5 |
| 56 | Pulaski (Orange Line) | 152.9 |
| 57 | Belmont (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 148.5 |
| 58 | Midway Airport | 147.3 |
| 59 | Kimball | 146.4 |
| 60 | LaSalle/Van Buren | 144.5 |
| 61 | Main | 143.8 |
| 62 | Granville | 142.8 |
| 63 | Thorndale | 141.6 |
| 64 | Harold Washington Library | 135.7 |
| 65 | Halsted (Orange Line) | 128.6 |
| 66 | California (Pink Line) | 128.2 |
| 67 | Ashland (Green Line – Lake Street) | 126.8 |
| 68 | Irving Park (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 126.6 |
| 69 | Kedzie (Orange Line) | 125.5 |
| 70 | 35-Bronzeville-IIT | 125.2 |
| 71 | Sox-35th | 124.4 |
| 72 | Bryn Mawr | 121.1 |
| 72 | Linden | 121.1 |
| 74 | Lawrence | 120.1 |
| 75 | Loyola | 118.9 |
| 76 | Harlem (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 113.7 |
| 77 | Western (Orange Line) | 112.7 |
| 78 | Davis | 112.4 |
| 79 | Clinton (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 110.8 |
| 80 | 54th/Cermak | 109.7 |
| 81 | Wilson | 105.1 |
| 82 | Western (Pink Line) | 104.3 |
| 83 | Jackson (Red Line – State Street Subway) | 104 |
| 83 | Roosevelt | 104 |
| 85 | Cermak | 102.8 |
| 86 | Argyle | 101.7 |
| 87 | Medical Center | 100.7 |
| 88 | Ashland (Orange Line) | 97.9 |
| 89 | Rosemont | 96.3 |
| 90 | Ridgeland | 93.5 |
| 91 | Morse | 92.9 |
| 92 | Jackson (Blue Line – Dearborn Subway) | 92.5 |
| 93 | Dempster-Skokie | 91.6 |
| 94 | O’Hare Airport | 91.2 |
| 95 | Kedzie (Pink Line) | 90.1 |
| 96 | Jefferson Park | 89.4 |
| 97 | Dempster | 85.9 |
| 98 | Cumberland | 84 |
| 99 | Addison (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 83 |
| 100 | Oakton | 81.9 |
| 101 | Cicero (Pink Line) | 78.4 |
| 102 | Oak Park (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 76.6 |
| 103 | California (Green Line – Lake Street) | 76.4 |
| 104 | Jarvis | 72.1 |
| 105 | South Boulevard | 71.6 |
| 106 | Central Park | 62.9 |
| 107 | Harlem (Green Line – Lake Street) | 60.6 |
| 108 | Austin (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 58.8 |
| 109 | Western (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 58.7 |
| 110 | Garfield (Green Line – South Elevated) | 55.7 |
| 111 | Conservatory | 55.3 |
| 112 | Berwyn | 52.9 |
| 113 | Austin (Green Line – Lake Street) | 50.3 |
| 114 | Howard | 49.2 |
| 115 | Pulaski (Pink Line) | 48.8 |
| 116 | Central (Purple Line – Evanston) | 48.6 |
| 117 | 51st | 47.3 |
| 118 | Kildare | 45.3 |
| 119 | 47th (Green Line – South Elevated) | 44.8 |
| 120 | Harlem (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 44 |
| 121 | East 63rd-Cottage Grove | 43.1 |
| 122 | Montrose (Blue Line – O’Hare) | 42.2 |
| 123 | 47th (Red Line – Dan Ryan) | 41.4 |
| 124 | Halsted (Green Line – Ashland/63rd Branch) | 41.2 |
| 125 | Kostner | 40.8 |
| 126 | Forest Park | 36 |
| 127 | 43rd | 31.8 |
| 128 | Garfield (Red Line – Dan Ryan) | 31.6 |
| 129 | Indiana | 30.4 |
| 130 | Cicero (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 29.7 |
| 131 | Central (Green Line – Lake Street) | 28.9 |
| 132 | 87th | 27.7 |
| 133 | Ashland/63rd | 27.4 |
| 134 | Cicero (Green Line – Lake Street) | 27.1 |
| 135 | Pulaski (Green Line – Lake Street) | 27 |
| 136 | Laramie | 21.1 |
| 137 | 95/Dan Ryan | 19.4 |
| 138 | 79th | 19.3 |
| 139 | King Drive | 19 |
| 139 | 69th | 19 |
| 141 | Kedzie-Homan | 17 |
| 142 | Pulaski (Blue Line – Forest Park) | 16.1 |
| 143 | 63rd | 10.1 |
| 144 | Kedzie (Green Line – Lake Street) | 7.9 |
