West Cook News

71st/South Shore ridership decreased by 4.7 percent during May 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).

The Stockton/LaSalle Express route saw the largest increase in ridership with a 484.6 percent rise.

Bus and train 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.

Rank	Route	Ridership increase from 2020 to 2021 (%)
1	Stockton/LaSalle Express	484.6
2	U. of Chicago/Hyde Park	469
3	Navy Pier	413.9
4	Clarendon/LaSalle Express	301.1
5	55th/Austin	273.1
6	U. of Chicago Hospitals Express	259.7
7	Stockton/Michigan Express	226
8	Streeterville/Taylor	208.5
9	U. of Chicago/Kenwood	207.2
10	Inner Drive/Michigan Express	204.1
11	Clarendon/Michigan Express	197.8
12	Ogilvie/Streeterville Express	187
13	Bronzeville/Union Station	174
14	Addison	164.5
15	31st	162
16	Damen	153.5
17	55th/Narragansett	138.9
18	Lunt	134.4
19	Central/Ridge	132.5
20	North Cicero/Skokie Blvd.	130.2
21	Hyde Park Express	127.9
22	Narragansett/Ridgeland	127
23	Harlem	124.2
24	Sheridan/LaSalle Express	123.4
25	Lincoln	122.6
26	Higgins	121.6
27	Sheridan	114.9
28	Irving Park	110.3
29	Peterson	109.1
30	South Damen	107.8
31	Armitage	106.2
32	Diversey	104.7
33	Evanston Circulator	103.9
34	Outer Drive Express	101.4
35	West Lawrence	97
36	LaSalle	96
37	Grand	94.3
38	Belmont	92.1
39	Northwest Highway	90.7
40	Clark	89.5
40	South Pulaski	89.5
42	Blue Island/26th	88.7
42	California	88.7
44	Water Tower Express	88.5
45	Fullerton	87.3
46	Foster	85.2
47	Sedgwick	82
48	Archer/Harlem	80.6
49	California/Dodge	76.8
50	North Western	70.2
51	South Shore Express	69
51	Skokie	69
53	Lawrence	67.6
54	Archer	67.5
55	Montrose	66.5
56	North Central	65.2
57	16th/18th	63.6
58	Broadway	62.7
59	Avon Express	62.2
60	51st	61.3
61	31st/35th	56
62	Jackson Park Express	55.4
63	West 65th	50
64	Devon	48.4
65	Milwaukee	46.5
66	Jeffery Manor Express	46.1
67	South Kedzie	46
68	Austin	44.3
69	West 63rd	41.9
70	Division	36.4
71	Kimball-Homan	36.1
72	Cermak	35.6
73	Halsted	33.8
74	Pershing	32.7
75	North	32.4
76	Jeffery Jump	32.3
77	Chicago	31.7
78	Garfield	29.7
79	King Drive	26.7
80	Ashland Express	25.3
81	Roosevelt	22.9
82	Harrison	22
82	59th/61st	22
82	43rd	22
85	47th	21.4
85	Western	21.4
87	Western Express	21
87	West 103rd	21
89	Wentworth	19.5
90	Central	18.3
91	Vincennes/111th	15.4
92	South Cicero	13.4
93	Ashland	12.4
94	Halsted/95th	10.2
95	South Halsted	8.5
96	Stony Island	6.9
97	Cottage Grove	6.4
98	Pulaski	4.2
99	95th	3.4
100	Jeffery Local	2.6
101	87th	1.7
102	South Chicago	1.3
103	Wallace-Racine	0.7