North Cook News

Western (Blue Line - Forest Park) station ridership increased by 23.9% in January of this year 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).

Quincy/Wells station saw the largest increase in ridership with a 116.9% 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 2022 to 2023 (%)
1	Quincy/Wells	116.9
2	Washington/Wells	104.5
3	Merchandise Mart	101.7
4	Monroe (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway)	90.7
5	LaSalle/Van Buren	88.5
6	UIC-Halsted	87.1
7	Clinton (Blue Line - Forest Park)	81.9
8	Morgan	78.1
9	Adams/Wabash	77.3
10	Southport	77.2
11	Jackson (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway)	72.2
12	Clinton (Green Line - Lake Street)	70.3
13	Halsted (Orange Line)	69
13	Fullerton	69
13	Paulina	69
16	Wellington	68.1
17	Ridgeland	67.6
18	Rockwell	67.4
19	Jackson (Red Line - State Street Subway)	66.4
20	Irving Park (Brown Line)	66
21	Diversey	64.3
22	Oak Park (Blue Line - Forest Park)	64.1
23	Montrose (Blue Line - O'Hare)	64
24	Clark/Lake	61.9
25	Sedgwick	61.3
26	Western (Blue Line - O'Hare)	61
27	Harold Washington Library	59.8
28	Montrose (Brown Line)	59.4
29	Chicago (Brown Line)	58.9
30	Addison (Brown Line)	58.5
31	State/Lake	57.7
32	Cermak-Chinatown	56.7
33	Armitage	56.6
34	Oakton	56.5
35	Francisco	56.3
36	LaSalle	56
37	California (Blue Line - O'Hare)	54.2
37	Grand (Blue Line - O'Hare)	54.2
39	Addison (Red Line - North Side)	53.9
39	Linden	53.9
41	Monroe (Red Line - State Street Subway)	53.6
42	Oak Park (Green Line - Lake Street)	52.9
43	Damen (Blue Line - O'Hare)	52.8
44	Loyola	52.3
45	Noyes	51.5
46	Austin (Blue Line - Forest Park)	51.4
47	Logan Square	51.1
48	Cumberland	50.5
49	Western (Brown Line)	49.6
50	Division	48.4
51	Ashland (Green Line - Lake Street)	48.2
52	Washington	48
53	Midway Airport	47.3
54	Chicago (Blue Line - O'Hare)	47.1
55	Dempster-Skokie	46.7
56	Granville	46.4
56	Damen (Brown Line)	46.4
58	Western (Orange Line)	44.9
59	Irving Park (Blue Line - O'Hare)	44.8
60	Rosemont	44.4
61	35-Bronzeville-IIT	44
61	Addison (Blue Line - O'Hare)	44
63	Belmont (Blue Line - O'Hare)	43.2
63	Pulaski (Orange Line)	43.2
65	Kildare	43.1
66	Jefferson Park	42.6
67	35th/Archer	42.4
68	Sheridan	42.3
69	Ashland (Orange Line)	42.2
70	Kedzie (Orange Line)	42
70	Chicago (Red Line - North Side)	42
72	Foster	39.7
73	Polk	39.6
74	Cermak	39.2
75	California (Green Line - Lake Street)	39.1
76	Lake	38.8
77	Belmont (Red Line - North Side)	38.7
78	Harlem (Blue Line - O'Hare)	38.2
79	South Boulevard	38
79	Laramie	38
79	Jarvis	38
82	King Drive	37.2
83	Dempster	37
83	Kimball	37
85	Main	36.4
86	Austin (Green Line - Lake Street)	36.1
87	Thorndale	35.9
88	Central (Purple Line - Evanston)	35.3
88	Kedzie (Brown Line)	35.3
90	Berwyn	34.8
91	Howard	34.6
91	43rd	34.6
93	Roosevelt	34.3
94	Forest Park	33.8
95	47th (Green Line - South Elevated)	33.3
96	North/Clybourn	32.7
97	Medical Center	32.2
98	Davis	32
98	Washington/Wabash	32
98	95/Dan Ryan	32
98	Morse	32
98	54th/Cermak	32
103	Western (Pink Line)	30.9
104	Bryn Mawr	30.6
105	Racine	30.2
106	Grand (Red Line - North Side)	29.9
107	Cicero (Blue Line - Forest Park)	29.4
107	East 63rd-Cottage Grove	29.4
109	Harrison	28.6
110	Clark/Division	28.5
110	Kedzie (Green Line - Lake Street)	28.5
112	Harlem (Green Line - Lake Street)	27.9
113	O'Hare Airport	27.1
113	Pulaski (Pink Line)	27.1
115	Cicero (Pink Line)	26.5
116	Sox-35th	25.8
117	18th	24.8
118	Garfield (Green Line - South Elevated)	24.6
119	Kostner	24.3
120	California (Pink Line)	24
120	Western (Blue Line - Forest Park)	24
120	Indiana	24
120	Garfield (Red Line - Dan Ryan)	24
120	Central (Green Line - Lake Street)	24
125	Central Park	23.2
126	Halsted (Green Line - Ashland/63rd Branch)	23
126	Kedzie (Pink Line)	23
126	Pulaski (Green Line - Lake Street)	23
129	Kedzie-Homan	21.1
130	87th	19.9
131	Damen (Pink Line)	19.5
132	51st	19.4
133	Cicero (Green Line - Lake Street)	18.3
134	47th (Red Line - Dan Ryan)	16.1
135	Conservatory	15.5
136	Harlem (Blue Line - Forest Park)	15
136	Ashland/63rd	15
138	79th	10.3
139	69th	9.6