Chicago City Wire

55th/Austin ridership increased by 89.5 percent during October 2021 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 U. of Chicago/Kenwood route saw the largest increase in ridership with a 514.9 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 2021. 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	U. of Chicago/Kenwood	514.9
2	Evanston Circulator	393.2
3	Navy Pier	306.9
4	Stockton/LaSalle Express	247.7
5	U. of Chicago/Hyde Park	224.7
6	Ogilvie/Streeterville Express	209.8
7	Union/Streeterville Express	178.6
8	Water Tower Express	161
9	U. of Chicago Hospitals Express	155.7
10	Bronzeville/Union Station	146.9
11	Streeterville/Taylor	136.6
12	LaSalle	131
13	Stockton/Michigan Express	129.3
14	West 65th	125.4
15	Hyde Park Express	118.8
16	Sedgwick	116
17	Narragansett/Ridgeland	109.9
18	Clarendon/LaSalle Express	108.9
19	Addison	102.5
20	Clarendon/Michigan Express	93.7
21	Sheridan/LaSalle Express	91.9
22	55th/Austin	89.5
23	South Damen	86.7
24	Harrison	80.2
25	Central/Ridge	77.3
26	Damen	77.2
27	Blue Island/26th	74.4
28	Montrose	69.6
29	Northwest Highway	67.3
30	Inner Drive/Michigan Express	66.2
31	Western Express	64.3
32	31st	63.7
33	Sheridan	59.8
34	Grand	58.1
35	Wentworth	56.7
36	31st/35th	55.8
37	South Pulaski	55.6
38	Higgins	55.4
39	Peterson	53.3
40	California/Dodge	52.5
41	Ashland Express	51.2
42	Archer/Harlem	51.1
42	Outer Drive Express	51.1
44	West 63rd	50.6
45	Fullerton	50
45	Armitage	50
47	Chicago	49.2
48	Kimball-Homan	49.1
49	Belmont	47.9
50	East 103rd	47.5
51	Milwaukee	46.8
52	Archer	46.5
53	Halsted	46
53	Irving Park	46
55	Broadway	44.4
56	55th/Narragansett	43.1
56	Jackson	43.1
58	51st	42.2
58	Diversey	42.2
60	Foster	41.3
61	Vincennes/111th	41.1
62	Clark	41
63	Lincoln	37.5
64	16th/18th	37
65	North Western	35.9
66	State	35.8
67	Pershing	35.7
68	South Shore Express	34.1
69	North	34
69	North Cicero/Skokie Blvd.	34
71	California	32.1
72	Jackson Park Express	31.7
73	Division	31.6
74	Harlem	30.2
75	King Drive	30.1
76	Lawrence	28.3
77	Garfield	27.5
78	Central	27.4
79	South Kedzie	27.2
80	West Lawrence	27
81	Kedzie	26.4
82	59th/61st	26.2
83	Laramie	25.8
84	Cermak	24.9
85	Devon	24.4
86	Roosevelt	23.9
87	Lunt	22.4
88	Western	22.2
88	Skokie	22.2
90	South Chicago	22.1
91	47th	21.6
92	Jeffery Jump	21.2
92	Pullman/115th	21.2
94	Wallace-Racine	20.6
95	West 103rd	17.3
96	Jeffery Local	17
97	Austin	16.4
98	Pulaski	16.2
98	Halsted/95th	16.2
100	Jeffery Manor Express	15.8
101	87th	15.2
102	74th-75th	14.8
103	Ashland	14.6
104	Cottage Grove	14.1
105	Madison	13.8
106	South Halsted	13.7
107	111th/King Drive	12.3
108	63rd	10.6
109	Stony Island	10.4
110	Cicero	8.3
111	67th-69th-71st	8.1
112	95th	8
113	43rd	7.3
114	71st/South Shore	6.8
115	South Shore Night Bus	6.1
116	79th	5.2
117	South Michigan	4.4