West Cook News

Central (Purple Line - Evanston) station ridership increased by 19.9 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).

Montrose (Blue Line - O'Hare) station saw the largest increase in ridership with a 142.1 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	Montrose (Blue Line - O'Hare)	142.1
2	Quincy/Wells	140.7
3	Adams/Wabash	137.6
4	Monroe (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway)	126.9
5	Harold Washington Library	124.1
6	Fullerton	123.9
7	Racine	118.2
8	Washington/Wells	114.3
9	Merchandise Mart	113
10	LaSalle/Van Buren	112.2
11	Armitage	106.3
12	Jackson (Red Line - State Street Subway)	99.8
13	LaSalle	95.1
14	Jackson (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway)	93.5
15	Clinton (Blue Line - Forest Park)	92.3
16	Clark/Lake	91.3
17	Addison (Brown Line)	91.2
18	Irving Park (Brown Line)	90
19	Morgan	88.6
20	Sedgwick	88.2
21	Southport	87.2
22	Monroe (Red Line - State Street Subway)	84.9
22	Harrison	84.9
24	Rockwell	83.1
25	UIC-Halsted	82.4
26	Diversey	82
26	Washington	82
28	Foster	79.8
29	Chicago (Blue Line - O'Hare)	78.8
30	Damen (Brown Line)	78.6
31	Clinton (Green Line - Lake Street)	78.2
32	Wellington	75.5
33	Argyle	72.8
33	Western (Blue Line - O'Hare)	72.8
33	Pulaski (Orange Line)	72.8
36	Paulina	71.7
37	Cermak	71.1
38	Chicago (Brown Line)	70.7
39	State/Lake	69.3
40	35th/Archer	67.4
41	Sox-35th	67.3
42	Halsted (Orange Line)	66.6
43	Addison (Blue Line - O'Hare)	66.2
44	Addison (Red Line - North Side)	65.7
45	Noyes	65.6
46	Midway Airport	64.7
47	Ridgeland	64
47	Washington/Wabash	64
47	Oak Park (Green Line - Lake Street)	64
50	Belmont (Red Line - North Side)	63.4
50	Division	63.4
52	Lake	63.3
53	Oak Park (Blue Line - Forest Park)	62.8
54	South Boulevard	62.4
55	Montrose (Brown Line)	62.3
56	Grand (Blue Line - O'Hare)	62.1
57	California (Blue Line - O'Hare)	62
57	Francisco	62
59	Logan Square	60.8
60	Sheridan	60
60	35-Bronzeville-IIT	60
62	Damen (Blue Line - O'Hare)	57.6
63	Western (Brown Line)	57.5
64	O'Hare Airport	55.4
65	Cermak-Chinatown	54.6
66	Linden	52.6
67	Dempster-Skokie	52.5
68	Kedzie (Orange Line)	52.4
69	Rosemont	52.3
70	Wilson	52.2
71	Cumberland	51.7
72	Grand (Red Line - North Side)	50.7
73	Oakton	50.5
74	18th	50.1
75	Harlem (Blue Line - O'Hare)	50
75	Clark/Division	50
75	Kedzie (Brown Line)	50
75	Western (Orange Line)	50
79	Belmont (Blue Line - O'Hare)	49.2
80	Kedzie (Green Line - Lake Street)	48.9
81	Western (Blue Line - Forest Park)	48.7
82	Dempster	48.5
83	Ashland (Orange Line)	48.2
84	Loyola	47.9
85	Damen (Pink Line)	47.5
86	Kimball	47
87	Jarvis	45.9
88	Ashland (Green Line - Lake Street)	45.3
89	Roosevelt	44.5
90	North/Clybourn	44.1
91	Bryn Mawr	43.7
92	Thorndale	42.8
93	California (Green Line - Lake Street)	40
93	Chicago (Red Line - North Side)	40
93	54th/Cermak	40
96	43rd	38.7
97	Granville	38.5
98	Main	38.4
99	Jefferson Park	37.4
100	Davis	36.9
101	Austin (Blue Line - Forest Park)	36.6
102	Austin (Green Line - Lake Street)	36.1
103	Medical Center	35.3
104	Central Park	35
104	Morse	35
106	Garfield (Green Line - South Elevated)	34.3
107	Polk	33.7
108	Laramie	33.3
109	Garfield (Red Line - Dan Ryan)	32.3
110	Kedzie (Pink Line)	31.1
111	Indiana	30.9
112	Howard	29.8
113	Kildare	29.6
114	95/Dan Ryan	29.3
115	51st	28.6
116	47th (Green Line - South Elevated)	28.1
117	Conservatory	27.3
118	California (Pink Line)	27.1
119	Pulaski (Pink Line)	26.6
120	Western (Pink Line)	25.5
121	Ashland/63rd	24.2
122	87th	23.5
122	Harlem (Green Line - Lake Street)	23.5
124	Kostner	23.4
125	Halsted (Green Line - Ashland/63rd Branch)	23.1
126	47th (Red Line - Dan Ryan)	22.2
127	Irving Park (Blue Line - O'Hare)	21.7
128	Central (Green Line - Lake Street)	21
129	King Drive	20.2
130	Central (Purple Line - Evanston)	19.9
131	79th	19.3
132	Cicero (Pink Line)	19.1
133	Kedzie-Homan	18.9
134	69th	18.4
135	Cicero (Green Line - Lake Street)	18
135	63rd	18
137	Forest Park	16.6
138	Pulaski (Blue Line - Forest Park)	13.5
139	Cicero (Blue Line - Forest Park)	13.2
140	East 63rd-Cottage Grove	7.2
141	Pulaski (Green Line - Lake Street)	6.1
142	Harlem (Blue Line - Forest Park)	4.4