Chicago City Wire

Main station ridership increased by 13.5% in February 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 60.3% 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	60.3
2	Washington/Wells	55.2
3	LaSalle/Van Buren	50.9
4	Merchandise Mart	49.8
5	Clinton (Blue Line - Forest Park)	44.3
6	Monroe (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway)	39.1
7	Clinton (Green Line - Lake Street)	36.6
8	Paulina	36.3
8	Adams/Wabash	36.3
10	Morgan	35.5
11	Jackson (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway)	33.3
12	Halsted (Orange Line)	33.2
13	Ridgeland	31.8
14	Montrose (Blue Line - O'Hare)	31.6
15	Wellington	31.2
16	Montrose (Brown Line)	31.1
17	Irving Park (Brown Line)	30.3
18	Rockwell	30.2
19	State/Lake	29.7
20	Chicago (Brown Line)	29.5
21	Diversey	28.5
22	Western (Blue Line - O'Hare)	28.3
23	Linden	28.2
24	Irving Park (Blue Line - O'Hare)	27.6
25	Sedgwick	27
25	Ashland (Green Line - Lake Street)	27
25	Francisco	27
28	Clark/Lake	26.4
29	Addison (Brown Line)	25.8
30	Harold Washington Library	25.2
31	Oak Park (Green Line - Lake Street)	25.1
32	East 63rd-Cottage Grove	24.9
33	Western (Brown Line)	24.8
34	Grand (Blue Line - O'Hare)	24.6
35	Jackson (Red Line - State Street Subway)	24.2
35	Ashland (Orange Line)	24.2
37	Oakton	23.7
38	Washington/Wabash	23.1
39	35th/Archer	22.8
40	Western (Orange Line)	22.5
41	Armitage	22.4
41	Midway Airport	22.4
43	Pulaski (Green Line - Lake Street)	21.9
44	Cermak	21.7
45	Cumberland	21.6
46	Southport	21.5
47	Halsted (Green Line - Ashland/63rd Branch)	21.1
48	LaSalle	21
48	California (Green Line - Lake Street)	21
48	Monroe (Red Line - State Street Subway)	21
51	Fullerton	20.4
52	Austin (Green Line - Lake Street)	20.3
53	Jefferson Park	20.2
54	Oak Park (Blue Line - Forest Park)	20.1
54	Kimball	20.1
54	Kedzie (Brown Line)	20.1
54	Damen (Brown Line)	20.1
54	Kedzie (Orange Line)	20.1
59	Addison (Red Line - North Side)	19.9
60	Cermak-Chinatown	19.7
61	Howard	19.4
62	Kildare	19.1
63	Pulaski (Orange Line)	18.8
64	95/Dan Ryan	18.2
65	Central (Purple Line - Evanston)	18
65	47th (Green Line - South Elevated)	18
65	South Boulevard	18
65	Chicago (Blue Line - O'Hare)	18
69	Rosemont	17.4
69	Division	17.4
71	Dempster	17.3
72	Damen (Blue Line - O'Hare)	17.1
73	Berwyn	17
73	California (Blue Line - O'Hare)	17
73	Jarvis	17
73	Washington	17
73	UIC-Halsted	17
73	Sheridan	17
73	Kedzie (Green Line - Lake Street)	17
73	Addison (Blue Line - O'Hare)	17
81	Thorndale	16.4
82	Laramie	16.3
83	Granville	16.1
83	King Drive	16.1
85	Austin (Blue Line - Forest Park)	16
85	Conservatory	16
85	O'Hare Airport	16
85	Logan Square	16
85	43rd	16
90	Roosevelt	15.2
91	Pulaski (Pink Line)	15.1
92	Belmont (Blue Line - O'Hare)	14.9
93	Bryn Mawr	14.5
94	Kedzie (Pink Line)	14
94	Lake	14
94	Harlem (Blue Line - O'Hare)	14
94	Dempster-Skokie	14
94	Main	14
99	Kostner	13.4
100	Chicago (Red Line - North Side)	13
100	Cicero (Pink Line)	13
100	Loyola	13
100	Noyes	13
104	Morse	12.3
104	Harlem (Green Line - Lake Street)	12.3
106	North/Clybourn	12
106	Davis	12
106	Central (Green Line - Lake Street)	12
106	Forest Park	12
106	Western (Pink Line)	12
106	54th/Cermak	12
112	Cicero (Blue Line - Forest Park)	11.4
113	Central Park	11
113	18th	11
113	Garfield (Green Line - South Elevated)	11
113	California (Pink Line)	11
117	Medical Center	10.2
118	Grand (Red Line - North Side)	9.9
119	87th	9.7
120	Belmont (Red Line - North Side)	9.1
121	Cicero (Green Line - Lake Street)	8.9
122	51st	8.6
123	Clark/Division	8.3
124	Indiana	7.7
125	Polk	7.6
126	Ashland/63rd	6.9
127	Foster	6.5
128	35-Bronzeville-IIT	6
128	Sox-35th	6
130	Kedzie-Homan	5.2
131	Garfield (Red Line - Dan Ryan)	4.8
132	Damen (Pink Line)	4.5
133	47th (Red Line - Dan Ryan)	3.4
134	Harrison	2.7
135	Western (Blue Line - Forest Park)	1.8
136	Racine	0.6
137	69th	0.2