West Cook News

Laramie ridership decreased by 8.9 percent during July 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 U. of Chicago/Hyde Park route saw the largest increase in ridership with a 480.3 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	U. of Chicago/Hyde Park	480.3
2	Navy Pier	373.7
3	Stockton/LaSalle Express	226.3
4	U. of Chicago/Kenwood	196.4
5	Water Tower Express	168
6	Clarendon/LaSalle Express	163.3
7	Ogilvie/Streeterville Express	155.1
8	Union/Streeterville Express	139.9
9	LaSalle	137.3
10	Bronzeville/Union Station	113.5
11	Stockton/Michigan Express	109.7
12	U. of Chicago Hospitals Express	100.8
13	Hyde Park Express	97.5
14	Sheridan	92.7
15	Sedgwick	92.4
16	Streeterville/Taylor	90.1
17	Sheridan/LaSalle Express	88.6
18	Inner Drive/Michigan Express	84.7
19	Clarendon/Michigan Express	79.6
20	Addison	70.7
21	Damen	69.9
22	Clark	65.3
23	Avon Express	58.1
24	55th/Austin	51.9
25	Grand	51.8
26	Broadway	51.5
27	Outer Drive Express	49.5
28	Diversey	46.6
29	West 65th	45.1
30	Blue Island/26th	43.2
31	Chicago	42.1
32	Belmont	42
33	Central/Ridge	40.9
34	Archer	40.5
35	Jackson Park Express	40
35	North	40
37	Evanston Circulator	38.2
38	Narragansett/Ridgeland	38.1
39	Fullerton	37.5
40	Irving Park	37.4
41	Peterson	34.7
42	Montrose	34.3
43	16th/18th	34
43	Armitage	34
45	Milwaukee	32.5
45	Lunt	32.5
47	Archer/Harlem	32
47	Lincoln	32
47	Halsted	32
50	Foster	29.2
51	South Pulaski	28.6
52	King Drive	28.1
53	State	26.7
54	Wentworth	26.6
55	31st/35th	26.3
56	Harrison	25.9
57	Skokie	25.7
58	North Western	24.8
59	31st	24.3
60	55th/Narragansett	24.2
61	Lawrence	24.1
62	Northwest Highway	23.6
63	Harlem	23.4
64	California/Dodge	22.7
65	Kimball-Homan	21.7
66	Division	21.5
67	West Lawrence	21.4
68	Higgins	19.7
69	Garfield	19.5
70	California	19.2
71	North Central	18.4
72	Ashland	18.3
72	Devon	18.3
74	Cermak	17.7
75	South Shore Express	17.4
76	Western	17.1
77	North Cicero/Skokie Blvd.	16.8
78	51st	15.4
79	Austin	15.3
80	Ashland Express	13.8
81	Pulaski	13.4
82	Halsted/95th	13
83	South Kedzie	11.8
84	South Damen	10.8
85	Madison	10.3
86	Central	10.1
87	Stony Island	10
88	Jackson	9.4
89	Pershing	8.9
90	47th	7.9
91	Vincennes/111th	6.4
92	Jeffery Jump	6.1
93	East 103rd	6
93	West 63rd	6
93	Cottage Grove	6
96	59th/61st	4.9
97	Kedzie	4.4
98	Cicero	4.2
99	South Cicero	3.2
100	63rd	3.1
101	71st/South Shore	1.5
102	Jeffery Local	1.3
103	43rd	1.2
104	Western Express	0.8
105	Roosevelt	0.4
106	South Halsted	0.2
106	Wallace-Racine	0.2