President of the CTA Dorval R. Carter, Jr. 2023 | Chicago Transit Authority
President of the CTA Dorval R. Carter, Jr. 2023 | Chicago Transit 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 31.6% rise.
Rail and bus traffic took a serious hit during the first year of the pandemic with average weekday ridership falling 57.6% in 2020 from pre-pandemic ridership in 2019, according to the Active Transportation Alliance. Total boardings in 2021 continued to decline, falling an additional 3.4% from 2020, with just under 602 thousand passengers riding bus or rail each weekday on average.
The transit authority has survived the period of lower ridership by depending on COVID relief money from the federal government, including $1.43 billion in bailout funds from the CARES act in 2020, according to the Federal Transit Authority.
In 2022, the ridership increased 26.7% to over 762 thousand riders per weekday on average, but this was still barely more than half of the pre-pandemic average ridership of 1.47 million riders per weekday. In early 2023, ridership steadily continued to rise.
Rank | Station | Ridership increase from 2022 to 2023 (%) |
---|---|---|
1 | Quincy/Wells | 31.6 |
2 | East 63rd-Cottage Grove | 29.2 |
2 | LaSalle/Van Buren | 29.2 |
4 | Merchandise Mart | 27.3 |
5 | Ashland (Green Line - Lake Street) | 26.5 |
6 | Washington/Wells | 25.7 |
7 | Southport | 24.5 |
8 | Pulaski (Green Line - Lake Street) | 24.1 |
9 | Morgan | 23.2 |
10 | Clinton (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 22.4 |
11 | Chicago (Brown Line) | 22.1 |
12 | Paulina | 22 |
12 | Adams/Wabash | 22 |
12 | Clinton (Green Line - Lake Street) | 22 |
15 | Irving Park (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 21 |
15 | Montrose (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 21 |
17 | Harrison | 20.1 |
18 | Jackson (Red Line - State Street Subway) | 20 |
18 | Montrose (Brown Line) | 20 |
18 | Wellington | 20 |
21 | Halsted (Orange Line) | 19 |
21 | Howard | 19 |
21 | Monroe (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway) | 19 |
24 | Monroe (Red Line - State Street Subway) | 17.6 |
24 | Ashland (Orange Line) | 17.6 |
26 | State/Lake | 17.4 |
27 | Francisco | 17 |
27 | Rockwell | 17 |
27 | Linden | 17 |
27 | Addison (Red Line - North Side) | 17 |
27 | Jackson (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway) | 17 |
27 | Oak Park (Green Line - Lake Street) | 17 |
27 | Diversey | 17 |
34 | Western (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 15.9 |
34 | King Drive | 15.9 |
36 | Granville | 15.4 |
37 | Oakton | 15.3 |
38 | Western (Orange Line) | 15.1 |
39 | Irving Park (Brown Line) | 15 |
39 | Berwyn | 15 |
39 | Pulaski (Pink Line) | 15 |
39 | Western (Brown Line) | 15 |
43 | Ridgeland | 14.4 |
44 | Jarvis | 14.1 |
45 | Dempster-Skokie | 13.9 |
46 | Cicero (Green Line - Lake Street) | 13.8 |
47 | Thorndale | 13.7 |
47 | Kedzie (Brown Line) | 13.7 |
49 | Sheridan | 13.5 |
50 | Addison (Brown Line) | 13.4 |
51 | Kimball | 13.3 |
51 | Midway Airport | 13.3 |
53 | Dempster | 13.1 |
53 | Laramie | 13.1 |
55 | 35th/Archer | 13 |
55 | Jefferson Park | 13 |
55 | Washington/Wabash | 13 |
55 | Chicago (Red Line - North Side) | 13 |
55 | Western (Pink Line) | 13 |
55 | California (Green Line - Lake Street) | 13 |
55 | Armitage | 13 |
62 | Harold Washington Library | 12.2 |
63 | Central (Purple Line - Evanston) | 12.1 |
64 | Bryn Mawr | 11.8 |
65 | Cumberland | 11.5 |
66 | Austin (Green Line - Lake Street) | 11.4 |
66 | Sedgwick | 11.4 |
68 | Grand (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 11.3 |
69 | 43rd | 11.1 |
70 | Fullerton | 10.9 |
71 | Clark/Lake | 10.8 |
72 | Kedzie (Green Line - Lake Street) | 10.7 |
73 | Medical Center | 10.1 |
74 | Lake | 10 |
74 | Central (Green Line - Lake Street) | 10 |
74 | Damen (Brown Line) | 10 |
74 | Belmont (Red Line - North Side) | 10 |
74 | North/Clybourn | 10 |
74 | 95/Dan Ryan | 10 |
74 | Loyola | 10 |
74 | Kedzie (Pink Line) | 10 |
74 | O'Hare Airport | 10 |
83 | Kildare | 9.3 |
83 | Kedzie (Orange Line) | 9.3 |
85 | Noyes | 8.9 |
86 | Cermak-Chinatown | 8.6 |
87 | Morse | 8.4 |
88 | Pulaski (Orange Line) | 8.3 |
89 | California (Pink Line) | 8.2 |
90 | Harlem (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 8 |
90 | Davis | 8 |
90 | Roosevelt | 8 |
93 | South Boulevard | 7.2 |
93 | LaSalle | 7.2 |
95 | Division | 7 |
95 | 54th/Cermak | 7 |
95 | Oak Park (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 7 |
95 | Kostner | 7 |
95 | Harlem (Green Line - Lake Street) | 7 |
95 | Clark/Division | 7 |
95 | Grand (Red Line - North Side) | 7 |
95 | Chicago (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 7 |
103 | Cicero (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 6 |
103 | Cicero (Pink Line) | 6 |
103 | Main | 6 |
106 | Addison (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 4.9 |
107 | Conservatory | 4.7 |
108 | Rosemont | 4.4 |
109 | Damen (Pink Line) | 4.2 |
110 | Washington | 4 |
111 | 18th | 3.2 |
112 | 47th (Green Line - South Elevated) | 3.1 |
113 | Polk | 2.9 |
114 | Austin (Blue Line - Forest Park) | 2.7 |
115 | 87th | 2.2 |
115 | California (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 2.2 |
117 | Sox-35th | 2.1 |
118 | Garfield (Red Line - Dan Ryan) | 2 |
118 | Forest Park | 2 |
118 | Halsted (Green Line - Ashland/63rd Branch) | 2 |
121 | 47th (Red Line - Dan Ryan) | 1.4 |
121 | Belmont (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 1.4 |
123 | Damen (Blue Line - O'Hare) | 1.2 |
124 | UIC-Halsted | 1 |
124 | Logan Square | 1 |
124 | Central Park | 1 |
127 | Kedzie-Homan | 0.3 |
127 | Ashland/63rd | 0.3 |