North Cook News

United Center Express ridership increased by 96.5% in March 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).

The United Center Express route saw the largest increase in ridership.

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	Route	Ridership increase from 2022 to 2023 (%)
1	United Center Express	96.5
2	31st	75.2
3	Clarendon/LaSalle Express	58.8
4	Stockton/LaSalle Express	57.9
5	Streeterville/Taylor	54.4
6	Sedgwick	42.7
7	LaSalle	42.3
8	Union/Streeterville Express	41.9
9	Bronzeville/Union Station	40.8
10	Hyde Park Express	40.6
11	Lunt	40.2
12	Grand	40.1
13	Wentworth	39.7
14	Sheridan/LaSalle Express	34
14	Armitage	34
16	Water Tower Express	32.9
17	Division	31.8
18	Harrison	31.2
19	South Cicero	30.8
20	Navy Pier	30.1
21	55th/Narragansett	29.5
22	Halsted	27.8
23	Halsted/95th	27.1
24	Stockton/Michigan Express	26.5
25	West Lawrence	26.4
26	Chicago	22
26	Ogilvie/Streeterville Express	22
26	Stony Island	22
26	Western	22
26	Jackson	22
31	55th/Austin	21.3
32	King Drive	21.1
33	16th/18th	20.7
34	Evanston Circulator	20.5
35	South Kedzie	19.9
36	Archer/Harlem	19.6
37	Madison	19
37	Central/Ridge	19
37	Western Express	19
40	Cermak	18.2
40	Pulaski	18.2
40	North Cicero/Skokie Blvd.	18.2
43	Ashland	16.9
44	South Shore Express	16.4
45	South Pulaski	16
45	Skokie	16
47	Fullerton	15.3
47	Narragansett/Ridgeland	15.3
49	Ashland Express	15.2
50	Laramie	15
50	59th/61st	15
50	Garfield	15
50	Wallace-Racine	15
50	California/Dodge	15
55	South Chicago	14.3
55	Central	14.3
57	Lincoln	14.2
58	South Halsted	14
58	South Michigan	14
58	North	14
61	Higgins	13.4
62	Kedzie	13.1
62	Cicero	13.1
62	Blue Island/26th	13.1
65	63rd	12.3
66	31st/35th	12.2
67	43rd	11.9
68	Devon	11.4
69	95th	11.1
70	North Western	11
70	U. of Chicago/Kenwood	11
72	Archer	10.3
72	71st/South Shore	10.3
72	74th-75th	10.3
72	West 103rd	10.3
76	Pershing	9.7
76	North Central	9.7
78	47th	9.6
78	Sheridan	9.6
80	Jeffery Manor Express	9.4
81	East 103rd	9
81	California	9
81	Austin	9
84	State	8.4
84	51st	8.4
84	67th-69th-71st	8.4
87	Clarendon/Michigan Express	8.3
88	Milwaukee	8
88	South Damen	8
90	Michigan/119th	7.3
91	111th/King Drive	6.4
92	Belmont	5.5
93	Northwest Highway	5.4
94	Jeffery Local	5.3
94	Pullman/115th	5.3
96	West 65th	4.5
97	Montrose	4.1
97	Foster	4.1
99	79th	4
99	Cottage Grove	4
99	Pullman Shuttle	4
102	Harlem	3.4
103	Damen	3.2
104	Inner Lake Shore/Michigan Expr	3.1
105	Addison	2.7
106	West 63rd	1.9
106	87th	1.9
108	Jeffery Jump	1.8
109	Roosevelt	1.2
109	Irving Park	1.2
111	Diversey	0.9