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 533.3 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 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 | Addison (Red Line - North Side) | 533.3 |
| 2 | Grand (Red Line - North Side) | 440.4 |
| 3 | Merchandise Mart | 375 |
| 4 | Harrison | 346.2 |
| 5 | Damen (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 299.1 |
| 6 | Southport | 292 |
| 7 | Argyle | 278.1 |
| 8 | Morgan | 272.5 |
| 9 | Armitage | 265.5 |
| 10 | Noyes | 264.3 |
| 11 | Quincy/Wells | 261.9 |
| 12 | Grand (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 257.5 |
| 13 | Sox-35th | 253.3 |
| 14 | Fullerton | 251.6 |
| 15 | Chicago (Red Line - North Side) | 249.4 |
| 16 | Cermak-Chinatown | 245.4 |
| 17 | California (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 243.7 |
| 18 | Sedgwick | 243.4 |
| 19 | Division | 243.3 |
| 20 | Washington | 235.9 |
| 21 | Chicago (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 235.8 |
| 22 | Lake | 232.8 |
| 23 | Foster | 224.8 |
| 24 | State/Lake | 224 |
| 25 | Monroe (Red Line - State Street Subway) | 211.9 |
| 26 | Damen (Brown Line) | 203.8 |
| 27 | Clark/Division | 202.4 |
| 28 | Belmont (Red Line - North Side) | 197.6 |
| 28 | Logan Square | 197.6 |
| 30 | Paulina | 196.8 |
| 31 | Clark/Lake | 196.1 |
| 32 | North/Clybourn | 195.2 |
| 33 | Western (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 191.9 |
| 34 | Wellington | 189.5 |
| 35 | Monroe (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway) | 188.9 |
| 36 | Addison (Brown Line) | 187.9 |
| 37 | Diversey | 186.5 |
| 38 | Jackson (Red Line - State Street Subway) | 185.7 |
| 38 | Linden | 185.7 |
| 40 | O'Hare Airport | 181.9 |
| 41 | Jackson (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway) | 181.4 |
| 42 | Racine | 179 |
| 43 | Montrose (Brown Line) | 177.7 |
| 44 | LaSalle | 174.8 |
| 45 | Clinton (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 173.7 |
| 46 | Irving Park (Brown Line) | 172.7 |
| 47 | Sheridan | 168.1 |
| 48 | Clinton (Green Line - Lake Street) | 167.2 |
| 49 | Washington/Wells | 166.6 |
| 50 | Rockwell | 161.1 |
| 51 | Adams/Wabash | 159.3 |
| 52 | Francisco | 158.2 |
| 53 | Washington/Wabash | 152.2 |
| 54 | Damen (Pink Line) | 152 |
| 55 | UIC-Halsted | 145.5 |
| 56 | Ridgeland | 143.8 |
| 57 | 18th | 140.6 |
| 58 | Oak Park (Green Line - Lake Street) | 140 |
| 59 | Harold Washington Library | 138.7 |
| 60 | 35-Bronzeville-IIT | 133.2 |
| 61 | Western (Brown Line) | 127.7 |
| 62 | Midway Airport | 126 |
| 63 | Belmont (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 125.1 |
| 64 | Loyola | 123.4 |
| 65 | Roosevelt | 119.8 |
| 66 | LaSalle/Van Buren | 119.7 |
| 67 | Irving Park (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 118.9 |
| 67 | 35th/Archer | 118.9 |
| 69 | Chicago (Brown Line) | 118.4 |
| 70 | Dempster | 118.2 |
| 71 | Dempster-Skokie | 116.2 |
| 72 | Polk | 115.1 |
| 73 | Davis | 112.7 |
| 74 | Main | 112.1 |
| 75 | Bryn Mawr | 111.1 |
| 76 | Addison (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 109.1 |
| 77 | Cumberland | 108.3 |
| 78 | Halsted (Orange Line) | 108 |
| 79 | Thorndale | 107.3 |
| 80 | Cermak | 106.3 |
| 81 | Wilson | 105.7 |
| 81 | California (Pink Line) | 105.7 |
| 83 | Oak Park (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 105.2 |
| 84 | Harlem (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 103.9 |
| 85 | Pulaski (Orange Line) | 102.2 |
| 86 | Granville | 102 |
| 87 | Rosemont | 101.3 |
| 88 | Kedzie (Orange Line) | 99.6 |
| 89 | Ashland (Green Line - Lake Street) | 94.1 |
| 90 | Kedzie (Pink Line) | 93.2 |
| 91 | Jarvis | 91.7 |
| 92 | Kedzie (Brown Line) | 89.3 |
| 93 | South Boulevard | 89.2 |
| 94 | Oakton | 88.7 |
| 94 | Medical Center | 88.7 |
| 96 | Morse | 88.6 |
| 97 | Ashland (Orange Line) | 86.7 |
| 98 | Kimball | 85.7 |
| 99 | Central (Purple Line - Evanston) | 84.7 |
| 100 | Western (Orange Line) | 84.5 |
| 101 | Jefferson Park | 84 |
| 101 | Western (Pink Line) | 84 |
| 103 | 54th/Cermak | 80.5 |
| 104 | Montrose (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 77.2 |
| 105 | Conservatory | 75.8 |
| 106 | Central Park | 69.1 |
| 107 | Garfield (Red Line - Dan Ryan) | 66 |
| 108 | Garfield (Green Line - South Elevated) | 62.1 |
| 109 | Cicero (Pink Line) | 61.3 |
| 110 | California (Green Line - Lake Street) | 59.2 |
| 111 | Western (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 55.6 |
| 112 | East 63rd-Cottage Grove | 55.1 |
| 113 | Austin (Green Line - Lake Street) | 54.1 |
| 114 | Harlem (Green Line - Lake Street) | 53.2 |
| 115 | Pulaski (Pink Line) | 52.7 |
| 116 | Kostner | 50.6 |
| 117 | Austin (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 50.3 |
| 118 | Howard | 49.2 |
| 119 | Indiana | 49.1 |
| 120 | 51st | 47.2 |
| 121 | 43rd | 41.7 |
| 122 | 87th | 40.5 |
| 123 | Halsted (Green Line - Ashland/63rd Branch) | 39.4 |
| 124 | 47th (Red Line - Dan Ryan) | 38.7 |
| 125 | 47th (Green Line - South Elevated) | 37.7 |
| 126 | Harlem (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 36.7 |
| 127 | Kedzie-Homan | 36.3 |
| 128 | Kildare | 33.9 |
| 129 | Forest Park | 31.9 |
| 130 | Cicero (Green Line - Lake Street) | 30.4 |
| 131 | Ashland/63rd | 30.3 |
| 132 | Pulaski (Green Line - Lake Street) | 30 |
| 133 | 79th | 29.3 |
| 134 | Cicero (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 28.9 |
| 135 | Laramie | 28.7 |
| 136 | 69th | 27.4 |
| 137 | 63rd | 26.4 |
| 138 | Central (Green Line - Lake Street) | 26.2 |
| 139 | 95/Dan Ryan | 20.3 |
| 140 | Pulaski (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 20.2 |
| 141 | King Drive | 16.4 |
| 142 | Kedzie (Green Line - Lake Street) | 15.8 |
Alerts Sign-up