Chicago City Wire

Conservatory station ridership increased by 13 percent during December 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).

Merchandise Mart station saw the largest increase in ridership with a 251.4 percent 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.

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	Station	Ridership increase from 2020 to 2021 (%)
1	Merchandise Mart	251.4
2	Quincy/Wells	236.2
3	Harrison	233.5
4	Racine	217.4
5	Grand (Red Line - North Side)	214.1
6	Southport	213.4
7	Morgan	208.7
8	Damen (Blue Line - O'Hare)	207.3
9	Armitage	203.4
10	Washington	200.5
11	Addison (Red Line - North Side)	199.4
12	UIC-Halsted	191.6
13	Clark/Lake	188.3
14	Monroe (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway)	188.2
15	LaSalle	182
16	Damen (Brown Line)	179.4
17	Irving Park (Brown Line)	178.8
18	Sedgwick	178
19	California (Blue Line - O'Hare)	175.9
20	Division	171.8
21	Addison (Brown Line)	171
22	Washington/Wells	168.6
23	Fullerton	167.2
24	Chicago (Blue Line - O'Hare)	165
25	Cermak-Chinatown	161.9
26	Western (Blue Line - O'Hare)	158.8
27	Adams/Wabash	157.1
28	Lake	156.5
29	Paulina	156
30	Foster	155.3
31	State/Lake	153.8
32	Monroe (Red Line - State Street Subway)	153.6
33	Rockwell	153.1
34	Grand (Blue Line - O'Hare)	153
34	Argyle	153
36	Noyes	152.4
37	Cermak	151.4
38	Montrose (Blue Line - O'Hare)	146.3
39	Wellington	146
40	Diversey	144
41	Logan Square	142.1
42	Francisco	138.6
43	Montrose (Brown Line)	138.2
44	Belmont (Red Line - North Side)	136.2
44	Harold Washington Library	136.2
46	Clinton (Blue Line - Forest Park)	133.6
47	Clark/Division	132.1
48	Chicago (Brown Line)	130.5
49	LaSalle/Van Buren	130.2
50	O'Hare Airport	128.5
51	Jackson (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway)	127.8
52	Clinton (Green Line - Lake Street)	126.3
53	Loyola	123.9
54	Washington/Wabash	120.2
55	Addison (Blue Line - O'Hare)	119.4
56	Ridgeland	114.9
57	Chicago (Red Line - North Side)	114.6
58	Oak Park (Blue Line - Forest Park)	114.4
59	Sheridan	112.4
60	Wilson	111.2
61	Jackson (Red Line - State Street Subway)	110.2
62	Granville	108.8
63	Main	108.2
64	Western (Brown Line)	104.4
65	Damen (Pink Line)	104.2
66	Oak Park (Green Line - Lake Street)	103.7
67	35th/Archer	101.4
68	Midway Airport	101.3
69	Pulaski (Orange Line)	98.8
70	North/Clybourn	97.4
71	Cumberland	95
72	Linden	94.4
73	Kedzie (Brown Line)	93.5
74	18th	92.2
75	Halsted (Orange Line)	92
76	Belmont (Blue Line - O'Hare)	90.7
77	35-Bronzeville-IIT	88.7
78	Roosevelt	88.3
79	Kimball	83.2
80	Thorndale	81.4
81	Medical Center	81.3
82	Davis	80.8
83	Harlem (Blue Line - O'Hare)	76.7
84	Ashland (Green Line - Lake Street)	74.8
85	Dempster	74.1
86	Sox-35th	73.1
87	Bryn Mawr	72.6
88	Jarvis	72.5
89	Kedzie (Orange Line)	72.2
90	Oakton	71.2
91	Morse	71.1
92	Dempster-Skokie	70.7
93	Polk	70.2
94	Rosemont	69.3
95	South Boulevard	68.1
96	Irving Park (Blue Line - O'Hare)	67.5
97	Western (Blue Line - Forest Park)	67.3
98	Western (Orange Line)	65.3
99	Jefferson Park	59.5
100	California (Pink Line)	56.9
101	Ashland (Orange Line)	53.3
102	Garfield (Green Line - South Elevated)	52
103	Western (Pink Line)	50
104	54th/Cermak	48.6
105	Kedzie (Pink Line)	44.4
106	Indiana	43.8
107	Central Park	43.7
108	Austin (Green Line - Lake Street)	41.8
109	51st	41.7
110	Central (Purple Line - Evanston)	38.3
111	Austin (Blue Line - Forest Park)	37.9
112	Kedzie (Green Line - Lake Street)	37.7
113	Garfield (Red Line - Dan Ryan)	32.4
114	East 63rd-Cottage Grove	32
114	Harlem (Green Line - Lake Street)	32
116	47th (Red Line - Dan Ryan)	31.1
117	California (Green Line - Lake Street)	30.1
118	Howard	30
119	43rd	28.4
120	Cicero (Pink Line)	28.2
121	47th (Green Line - South Elevated)	27.1
122	Cicero (Green Line - Lake Street)	24.3
123	Pulaski (Pink Line)	22.6
124	Central (Green Line - Lake Street)	21.1
125	69th	20.2
126	87th	17.2
127	79th	17
127	63rd	17
129	Forest Park	15.8
130	Ashland/63rd	15.5
131	Laramie	14.9
132	Halsted (Green Line - Ashland/63rd Branch)	14.2
133	Kostner	13.6
134	Conservatory	13
134	Cicero (Blue Line - Forest Park)	13
136	95/Dan Ryan	12.3
137	Kildare	12.1
138	Pulaski (Green Line - Lake Street)	8.9
139	Kedzie-Homan	7.2
140	King Drive	4.9
141	Harlem (Blue Line - Forest Park)	4.5