West Cook News

LaSalle/Van Buren station ridership increased by 140 percent during March 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).

UIC-Halsted station saw the largest increase in ridership with a 285.1 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	UIC-Halsted	285.1
2	Quincy/Wells	223.5
3	Merchandise Mart	187.7
4	Fullerton	186
5	Monroe (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway)	180.5
6	Racine	180.1
7	Armitage	176.1
8	Adams/Wabash	168.5
9	Montrose (Blue Line - O'Hare)	157.6
10	LaSalle	157.3
11	Washington/Wells	155.9
12	Harold Washington Library	153.4
13	Southport	152
14	Sedgwick	150.2
15	Addison (Brown Line)	145.8
16	Morgan	142.1
17	LaSalle/Van Buren	140
18	Irving Park (Brown Line)	138.1
19	Jackson (Red Line - State Street Subway)	134.6
20	Damen (Brown Line)	133.9
21	Clark/Lake	133
22	Argyle	131.5
22	Clinton (Blue Line - Forest Park)	131.5
24	Washington	131.4
25	Jackson (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway)	131
25	Foster	131
27	Rockwell	128.2
28	Diversey	128.1
29	Grand (Red Line - North Side)	126.7
30	Harrison	124.5
31	Addison (Red Line - North Side)	122.9
32	Cermak	122.1
33	Chicago (Blue Line - O'Hare)	121.1
34	Damen (Blue Line - O'Hare)	120.8
35	Monroe (Red Line - State Street Subway)	120.7
36	Division	117.8
37	State/Lake	116.6
38	Clinton (Green Line - Lake Street)	116.5
39	Western (Blue Line - O'Hare)	116.3
40	California (Blue Line - O'Hare)	114.6
41	Wellington	113.1
42	Paulina	111.7
43	Noyes	106.7
44	Montrose (Brown Line)	106.1
45	Oak Park (Blue Line - Forest Park)	103.6
46	Belmont (Red Line - North Side)	102.9
47	Chicago (Brown Line)	102.5
48	Francisco	101.6
49	Grand (Blue Line - O'Hare)	100.4
50	Ridgeland	100.2
51	Addison (Blue Line - O'Hare)	99.7
52	Logan Square	99.6
53	Lake	97.7
54	Halsted (Orange Line)	95.7
55	O'Hare Airport	94.3
56	Cermak-Chinatown	91.1
57	Clark/Division	90.7
58	Wilson	90.6
59	Pulaski (Orange Line)	88.5
60	Sheridan	88.1
61	Washington/Wabash	87.7
62	35-Bronzeville-IIT	87.1
63	Midway Airport	85.6
64	35th/Archer	84.8
65	Western (Brown Line)	82.4
66	Loyola	78.8
67	Oak Park (Green Line - Lake Street)	77
68	Chicago (Red Line - North Side)	73.2
68	Harlem (Blue Line - O'Hare)	73.2
70	Oakton	72
71	Damen (Pink Line)	71
71	Linden	71
73	Main	69.3
74	Kedzie (Orange Line)	69.2
75	Sox-35th	67.9
75	Cumberland	67.9
77	18th	67.4
78	Belmont (Blue Line - O'Hare)	66.7
79	Dempster	66.6
80	North/Clybourn	66.4
81	Granville	66.1
82	Thorndale	65.9
83	Roosevelt	64.8
84	Kimball	64.3
85	Ashland (Green Line - Lake Street)	63.8
86	Dempster-Skokie	63.1
87	Davis	62.8
88	Kedzie (Brown Line)	62.5
89	South Boulevard	59.9
90	Western (Orange Line)	59.4
91	Western (Blue Line - Forest Park)	58.8
92	Rosemont	58.4
93	Bryn Mawr	57.5
94	Morse	55.4
95	Jarvis	51.9
96	Medical Center	51.5
97	Kedzie (Green Line - Lake Street)	51.1
98	Jefferson Park	50.5
99	Polk	50.2
100	Garfield (Green Line - South Elevated)	50.1
101	Ashland (Orange Line)	47.4
102	Indiana	46.1
103	Austin (Blue Line - Forest Park)	42.5
104	Central Park	40.6
105	54th/Cermak	39.2
106	California (Green Line - Lake Street)	39
106	Irving Park (Blue Line - O'Hare)	39
106	Austin (Green Line - Lake Street)	39
109	California (Pink Line)	36.6
110	51st	36.3
111	43rd	33.2
112	Kedzie (Pink Line)	30.6
112	Harlem (Green Line - Lake Street)	30.6
114	Western (Pink Line)	30.1
115	Garfield (Red Line - Dan Ryan)	29.4
115	Pulaski (Pink Line)	29.4
117	Central (Purple Line - Evanston)	28.7
118	47th (Red Line - Dan Ryan)	25.6
119	Conservatory	25.4
120	Central (Green Line - Lake Street)	24.4
121	47th (Green Line - South Elevated)	23.8
122	Laramie	23.5
123	Howard	23.3
124	Cicero (Pink Line)	21.1
125	Halsted (Green Line - Ashland/63rd Branch)	19.1
125	Ashland/63rd	19.1
127	Forest Park	17.1
128	Kostner	15.5
129	87th	14.5
130	Harlem (Blue Line - Forest Park)	14
130	69th	14
130	Kedzie-Homan	14
133	63rd	13.3
134	79th	12.5
135	95/Dan Ryan	12.2
136	Pulaski (Blue Line - Forest Park)	11.4
137	Kildare	10.9
138	East 63rd-Cottage Grove	5.4
139	Cicero (Green Line - Lake Street)	5.2
140	Cicero (Blue Line - Forest Park)	0.3