North Cook News

Austin ridership increased by 20.3 percent during June 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 Navy Pier route saw the largest increase in ridership with a 390.7 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	Navy Pier	390.7
2	Stockton/LaSalle Express	378.6
3	U. of Chicago/Hyde Park	214.9
4	Water Tower Express	160.5
5	U. of Chicago/Kenwood	158.8
6	LaSalle	157.7
7	Clarendon/LaSalle Express	149.5
7	Inner Drive/Michigan Express	149.5
9	55th/Austin	142.9
10	Sheridan	138.6
11	Clarendon/Michigan Express	134.1
12	Hyde Park Express	126.1
13	U. of Chicago Hospitals Express	124.1
14	Stockton/Michigan Express	118.9
15	Streeterville/Taylor	117.4
16	Union/Streeterville Express	117.3
17	Ogilvie/Streeterville Express	109.5
18	Damen	107.2
19	Addison	104.9
20	Sheridan/LaSalle Express	103.6
21	Outer Drive Express	100.1
22	Sedgwick	99.4
23	Lunt	98.6
24	Clark	95.6
25	Broadway	91.4
26	Bronzeville/Union Station	88.8
27	Diversey	80.2
28	31st	79.3
29	South Damen	78.6
30	Blue Island/26th	74.9
31	Belmont	73.3
32	Fullerton	72.5
33	North Western	69.4
33	North Cicero/Skokie Blvd.	69.4
35	31st/35th	68.4
36	Irving Park	62.4
37	Narragansett/Ridgeland	62.3
38	Jackson Park Express	59.6
39	Higgins	58.8
40	Peterson	58.6
41	Lincoln	58.4
42	Evanston Circulator	57.8
43	West Lawrence	57.6
44	Grand	57.4
45	Archer	56.9
46	Montrose	55.9
47	Pershing	54
48	Cermak	53.3
49	South Pulaski	50.6
50	California	49.3
51	Avon Express	48.1
52	Harlem	47.9
53	Foster	47.8
54	West 65th	47.6
55	California/Dodge	46
55	16th/18th	46
57	Lawrence	45
58	North	41.7
59	South Shore Express	41.1
59	Northwest Highway	41.1
61	Milwaukee	39.8
62	Devon	39.6
63	Chicago	38.9
64	Armitage	37.5
65	Skokie	36
65	Archer/Harlem	36
67	Wentworth	35.2
68	Ashland Express	34.6
69	Kimball-Homan	33.6
70	South Kedzie	32.9
71	Western Express	31.9
72	Garfield	31.4
73	King Drive	31.2
74	Halsted	30.8
75	Jeffery Jump	29.9
76	Division	28.5
77	South Shore Night Bus	27.5
78	Jeffery Manor Express	26.7
79	Western	26.4
80	West 63rd	25.1
81	Ashland	23.9
82	Central	23.1
83	Roosevelt	22.8
84	55th/Narragansett	21.7
85	North Central	21.5
86	State	21.3
87	Austin	20.3
88	Halsted/95th	18.4
89	South Cicero	16.3
90	47th	15.9
91	Stony Island	15
91	Cicero	15
91	Pulaski	15
94	59th/61st	10.7
95	Harrison	10.6
96	Cottage Grove	9.9
96	74th-75th	9.9
98	51st	9.8
99	Pullman Shuttle	7.7
100	Jackson	7.2
101	Kedzie	6.5
102	87th	6
103	71st/South Shore	3.9
104	South Chicago	3.1
105	West 103rd	3
105	Jeffery Local	3
107	Wallace-Racine	1.8
108	63rd	0.9
109	East 103rd	0.6