The CTA calculates ridership by counting the customers who board a transit vehicle (bus or rail).
Fullerton station saw the largest increase in ridership with a 179.7 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.
Rank | Station | Ridership increase from 2021 to 2022 (%) |
---|---|---|
1 | Fullerton | 179.7 |
2 | Harrison | 164.4 |
3 | UIC-Halsted | 162.5 |
3 | Racine | 162.5 |
5 | Merchandise Mart | 140.8 |
6 | Armitage | 138.5 |
7 | Southport | 134.7 |
8 | Quincy/Wells | 134.5 |
9 | Grand (Red Line - North Side) | 126.3 |
10 | Morgan | 125.8 |
11 | Damen (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 124.1 |
12 | Harold Washington Library | 118.1 |
13 | Montrose (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 115.8 |
14 | Sedgwick | 112.9 |
15 | Jackson (Red Line - State Street Subway) | 112.7 |
16 | Argyle | 112.2 |
17 | Chicago (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 111.7 |
18 | LaSalle | 111.3 |
19 | Adams/Wabash | 111 |
20 | Damen (Brown Line) | 108.8 |
21 | California (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 107.2 |
22 | Washington | 104 |
23 | Addison (Brown Line) | 103.3 |
24 | Noyes | 102.1 |
24 | Irving Park (Brown Line) | 102.1 |
26 | Division | 102 |
27 | Foster | 99.7 |
28 | Monroe (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway) | 98.1 |
29 | Western (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 97.3 |
30 | Addison (Red Line - North Side) | 94.6 |
31 | Clark/Division | 93.4 |
32 | Clark/Lake | 92.6 |
33 | Cermak-Chinatown | 90.6 |
34 | Diversey | 90.4 |
35 | Monroe (Red Line - State Street Subway) | 89.5 |
35 | Grand (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 89.5 |
37 | Washington/Wells | 88.6 |
38 | State/Lake | 85.8 |
39 | Logan Square | 85.4 |
40 | Lake | 84.1 |
41 | Rockwell | 84 |
41 | Montrose (Brown Line) | 84 |
41 | Wellington | 84 |
44 | Belmont (Red Line - North Side) | 83.2 |
45 | Clinton (Green Line - Lake Street) | 83.1 |
46 | Paulina | 82.2 |
47 | Jackson (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway) | 82 |
48 | Wilson | 80.1 |
48 | LaSalle/Van Buren | 80.1 |
50 | Sheridan | 78.2 |
51 | O'Hare Airport | 76 |
51 | Chicago (Brown Line) | 76 |
51 | Addison (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 76 |
54 | Clinton (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 75.4 |
55 | Damen (Pink Line) | 75 |
56 | Francisco | 70.9 |
57 | North/Clybourn | 67.4 |
57 | Washington/Wabash | 67.4 |
59 | 35th/Archer | 63.3 |
60 | Pulaski (Orange Line) | 62.1 |
61 | Chicago (Red Line - North Side) | 60.8 |
62 | Halsted (Orange Line) | 59.4 |
63 | Ridgeland | 58.1 |
64 | 35-Bronzeville-IIT | 56.9 |
64 | Midway Airport | 56.9 |
66 | Cermak | 56.8 |
67 | 18th | 56.7 |
67 | Western (Brown Line) | 56.7 |
69 | Main | 56.2 |
70 | Belmont (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 54.6 |
71 | Thorndale | 54.4 |
72 | Oak Park (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 54 |
73 | Kedzie (Brown Line) | 53.2 |
74 | Loyola | 53.1 |
75 | Granville | 52.9 |
76 | Kimball | 52.4 |
77 | Linden | 51.7 |
78 | Ashland (Green Line - Lake Street) | 51.2 |
79 | Roosevelt | 50.6 |
80 | Davis | 48.5 |
81 | Harlem (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 48.3 |
82 | Jarvis | 46.9 |
83 | Sox-35th | 46.7 |
84 | Dempster | 46.2 |
84 | Medical Center | 46.2 |
86 | Oak Park (Green Line - Lake Street) | 46 |
87 | Western (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 45.4 |
88 | Bryn Mawr | 45 |
89 | Morse | 43.9 |
90 | Cumberland | 43.8 |
91 | Kedzie (Orange Line) | 43.7 |
92 | Oakton | 39 |
92 | Western (Orange Line) | 39 |
94 | South Boulevard | 37.4 |
95 | Rosemont | 34.1 |
96 | California (Pink Line) | 32.3 |
97 | Polk | 32 |
97 | Garfield (Green Line - South Elevated) | 32 |
99 | Jefferson Park | 31 |
99 | Irving Park (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 31 |
99 | Kedzie (Green Line - Lake Street) | 31 |
102 | Kedzie (Pink Line) | 28.9 |
103 | Ashland (Orange Line) | 28.4 |
104 | Dempster-Skokie | 28.2 |
105 | 54th/Cermak | 26.9 |
106 | 51st | 22.3 |
107 | Central (Purple Line - Evanston) | 21.6 |
108 | Western (Pink Line) | 21 |
108 | Austin (Green Line - Lake Street) | 21 |
110 | Central Park | 20 |
110 | Indiana | 20 |
112 | Garfield (Red Line - Dan Ryan) | 18.2 |
113 | 43rd | 17.4 |
114 | Pulaski (Pink Line) | 16.5 |
115 | Howard | 16 |
116 | 47th (Red Line - Dan Ryan) | 15.4 |
117 | 47th (Green Line - South Elevated) | 11.4 |
118 | California (Green Line - Lake Street) | 11 |
119 | 63rd | 10.4 |
120 | Harlem (Green Line - Lake Street) | 10.3 |
121 | Austin (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 10.1 |
122 | Cicero (Pink Line) | 9.1 |
123 | Central (Green Line - Lake Street) | 7.8 |
124 | 69th | 7.3 |
125 | 79th | 5.4 |
126 | 87th | 5.3 |
127 | Halsted (Green Line - Ashland/63rd Branch) | 5.1 |
128 | Ashland/63rd | 4.7 |
129 | Cicero (Green Line - Lake Street) | 4.6 |
130 | Kildare | 3.2 |
130 | East 63rd-Cottage Grove | 3.2 |
132 | Conservatory | 2.8 |
133 | Kedzie-Homan | 2.6 |
134 | Laramie | 1.2 |
135 | 95/Dan Ryan | 0.3 |