West Cook News

Conservatory station ridership increased by 5.1 percent during August 2022 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 an 83.7 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.

While ridership hasn't returned to pre-pandemic levels, CTA's president Dorval R. Cart Jr. said weekday ridership has doubled since the initial shutdown and continues to increase.

Rank	Station	Ridership increase from 2021 to 2022 (%)
1	Montrose (Blue Line - O'Hare)	83.7
2	Quincy/Wells	61.6
3	Washington/Wells	49.2
4	LaSalle/Van Buren	49.1
5	Clinton (Blue Line - Forest Park)	41
6	Rockwell	35.3
7	Merchandise Mart	34.5
8	Morgan	34.4
9	Irving Park (Brown Line)	34.3
10	Ashland (Green Line - Lake Street)	33
11	Monroe (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway)	32
11	Halsted (Orange Line)	32
13	Cermak	31.2
14	Fullerton	31
14	Clinton (Green Line - Lake Street)	31
16	Addison (Brown Line)	30
16	Clark/Lake	30
16	Racine	30
16	Medical Center	30
20	California (Green Line - Lake Street)	28.8
21	Noyes	28.5
22	Midway Airport	28.3
23	Wellington	28.2
24	Lake	27.6
25	Western (Blue Line - O'Hare)	27.5
26	Southport	27.4
27	Armitage	27.1
28	Western (Orange Line)	27
28	Washington	27
30	Roosevelt	26.3
31	Diversey	25.9
32	Oakton	25.5
33	Monroe (Red Line - State Street Subway)	25.2
34	South Boulevard	24.8
35	Pulaski (Orange Line)	24.4
35	Kedzie (Orange Line)	24.4
37	Francisco	24.2
38	35th/Archer	24.1
39	Jackson (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway)	23.6
40	Logan Square	23.5
40	Ashland (Orange Line)	23.5
42	Harold Washington Library	23
42	North/Clybourn	23
42	Damen (Brown Line)	23
42	Jarvis	23
46	State/Lake	22.3
47	Adams/Wabash	22
47	Chicago (Blue Line - O'Hare)	22
47	UIC-Halsted	22
47	California (Blue Line - O'Hare)	22
51	Division	21.4
52	Western (Brown Line)	21.3
52	Paulina	21.3
54	Kedzie (Brown Line)	21
54	Sheridan	21
54	Belmont (Blue Line - O'Hare)	21
57	Foster	20.3
57	Chicago (Brown Line)	20.3
59	LaSalle	20.2
60	Damen (Pink Line)	20.1
61	Kildare	19.8
62	Grand (Blue Line - O'Hare)	19.7
62	43rd	19.7
64	Austin (Green Line - Lake Street)	19.6
65	Oak Park (Green Line - Lake Street)	19.4
66	Belmont (Red Line - North Side)	19.3
66	Cermak-Chinatown	19.3
68	Addison (Blue Line - O'Hare)	18.9
69	Argyle	18.8
69	Garfield (Red Line - Dan Ryan)	18.8
71	Jackson (Red Line - State Street Subway)	18.5
72	54th/Cermak	18.4
72	Kimball	18.4
74	Sedgwick	18.3
75	Jefferson Park	18.2
76	Pulaski (Pink Line)	18
76	Washington/Wabash	18
76	Rosemont	18
76	Central Park	18
76	Ridgeland	18
76	Austin (Blue Line - Forest Park)	18
82	Cumberland	17.4
83	Chicago (Red Line - North Side)	17.1
84	O'Hare Airport	17
84	51st	17
84	Montrose (Brown Line)	17
84	Thorndale	17
84	Harlem (Blue Line - O'Hare)	17
89	Dempster-Skokie	16.3
89	Western (Pink Line)	16.3
91	Oak Park (Blue Line - Forest Park)	15.8
92	Garfield (Green Line - South Elevated)	15.7
93	Granville	15.5
94	Wilson	15.3
94	Polk	15.3
96	Harrison	15
96	Bryn Mawr	15
98	18th	14.2
99	Damen (Blue Line - O'Hare)	14.1
100	95/Dan Ryan	13.8
100	Western (Blue Line - Forest Park)	13.8
100	47th (Green Line - South Elevated)	13.8
103	Grand (Red Line - North Side)	13.2
104	Central (Purple Line - Evanston)	12.8
105	Kedzie (Green Line - Lake Street)	12.6
106	Morse	12.5
107	Main	12.3
108	Laramie	11.7
109	Kedzie-Homan	11
109	87th	11
109	Davis	11
109	Howard	11
113	Loyola	10.3
113	Addison (Red Line - North Side)	10.3
115	Cicero (Pink Line)	10
115	Dempster	10
117	47th (Red Line - Dan Ryan)	9.2
118	Cicero (Green Line - Lake Street)	9
118	Cicero (Blue Line - Forest Park)	9
120	Clark/Division	8.4
121	Central (Green Line - Lake Street)	8.2
122	Harlem (Green Line - Lake Street)	8.1
123	Linden	7.5
124	35-Bronzeville-IIT	7.2
125	Kedzie (Pink Line)	6.8
126	79th	6.1
127	Conservatory	5.1
128	63rd	4.5
129	Forest Park	3.9
130	Halsted (Green Line - Ashland/63rd Branch)	3.8
131	Indiana	3.5
132	Kostner	3.1
133	69th	2.5
134	Irving Park (Blue Line - O'Hare)	1
134	Sox-35th	1
134	Ashland/63rd	1