Chicago City Wire

Central (Purple Line - Evanston) station ridership increased by 12.1% 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).

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