Ashland (Orange Line) ridership increases by 46.5% during September 2021 compared to previous year

Feb 24, 2022

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Ashland (Orange Line) station ridership increased by 46.5 percent during September 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).

Addison (Red Line – North Side) station saw the largest increase in ridership with a 399.2 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.

Train Stations with Largest Increases in Ridership

Rank	Station	Ridership increase from 2020 to 2021 (%)
1	Addison (Red Line – North Side)	399.2
2	UIC-Halsted	371.4
3	Fullerton	290.1
4	Racine	244
5	Harrison	239.4
6	Southport	216.1
7	Armitage	213.3
8	Jackson (Red Line – State Street Subway)	207.6
9	Grand (Red Line – North Side)	202.6
10	Merchandise Mart	199.2
11	LaSalle	192.1
12	Sedgwick	182.6
12	Quincy/Wells	182.6
14	Noyes	181.8
15	Harold Washington Library	178.5
16	Addison (Brown Line)	167
17	Damen (Brown Line)	164.5
18	Morgan	164.3
19	Monroe (Blue Line – Dearborn Subway)	163.1
20	Damen (Blue Line – O’Hare)	160.9
21	Foster	160.8
22	California (Blue Line – O’Hare)	158.9
23	Argyle	155.1
24	Division	153.6
25	Clark/Division	153
25	Cermak-Chinatown	153
27	Chicago (Blue Line – O’Hare)	150.7
28	Washington	150.6
29	Adams/Wabash	149.6
30	Wellington	148.6
31	Lake	147.7
31	Monroe (Red Line – State Street Subway)	147.7
33	Loyola	146.2
34	State/Lake	144.8
35	Jackson (Blue Line – Dearborn Subway)	144.3
36	Sox-35th	144.1
37	Rockwell	144
38	California (Pink Line)	142.4
39	Paulina	141.5
40	Linden	141.4
41	Diversey	141
41	Ashland (Green Line – Lake Street)	141
43	Belmont (Red Line – North Side)	137.9
43	Grand (Blue Line – O’Hare)	137.9
45	Western (Blue Line – O’Hare)	137.5
46	Clark/Lake	135.7
47	Chicago (Red Line – North Side)	134.7
48	Irving Park (Brown Line)	133.4
49	Kedzie (Pink Line)	133.3
50	O’Hare Airport	132.4
51	Washington/Wells	131.4
52	Francisco	130.8
53	Cermak	128.8
54	Clinton (Blue Line – Forest Park)	126.9
55	Montrose (Brown Line)	123.5
56	Addison (Blue Line – O’Hare)	122.9
57	Clinton (Green Line – Lake Street)	120.9
58	35-Bronzeville-IIT	120
58	Sheridan	120
60	LaSalle/Van Buren	118.1
61	Montrose (Blue Line – O’Hare)	116.6
62	Wilson	114.3
63	Logan Square	113.7
64	Midway Airport	112.3
65	Halsted (Orange Line)	111.9
66	Damen (Pink Line)	107.3
67	Ridgeland	106.9
68	North/Clybourn	106.4
69	Washington/Wabash	103.7
70	Oak Park (Green Line – Lake Street)	100.6
71	Granville	100.3
72	Chicago (Brown Line)	99.8
73	Roosevelt	96.8
74	Oak Park (Blue Line – Forest Park)	95.8
75	Pulaski (Orange Line)	94.7
76	Dempster-Skokie	93.4
77	35th/Archer	91.6
78	Thorndale	88.8
79	Cumberland	88.7
80	18th	86.4
81	Oakton	84.6
82	Main	83.6
83	Bryn Mawr	82.5
84	Belmont (Blue Line – O’Hare)	81.6
85	Medical Center	78.5
86	Western (Brown Line)	77.1
87	Davis	75.7
88	Harlem (Blue Line – O’Hare)	73.4
89	Central (Purple Line – Evanston)	73.3
90	Rosemont	72.9
91	Western (Blue Line – Forest Park)	72.4
92	Dempster	71.6
93	Kedzie (Orange Line)	70.7
94	Kimball	69.8
95	Kedzie (Brown Line)	69.2
96	Polk	66.1
97	Jarvis	63.7
98	South Boulevard	61.4
99	54th/Cermak	61.3
100	Irving Park (Blue Line – O’Hare)	58.5
101	Morse	58.1
102	Western (Pink Line)	57.1
103	Western (Orange Line)	55.9
104	Jefferson Park	50.7
105	Ashland (Orange Line)	46.5
106	Garfield (Green Line – South Elevated)	41
107	Central Park	38.1
108	Austin (Blue Line – Forest Park)	37.5
109	East 63rd-Cottage Grove	36.7
110	Howard	34.7
111	Kedzie (Green Line – Lake Street)	33.6
112	51st	33
112	Halsted (Green Line – Ashland/63rd Branch)	33
114	Austin (Green Line – Lake Street)	32.2
115	47th (Red Line – Dan Ryan)	31.6
116	California (Green Line – Lake Street)	30.9
117	Garfield (Red Line – Dan Ryan)	30.3
117	Indiana	30.3
119	Kostner	28.3
120	Harlem (Green Line – Lake Street)	26.6
121	43rd	24.8
122	47th (Green Line – South Elevated)	23.8
123	Pulaski (Green Line – Lake Street)	22.6
124	Cicero (Pink Line)	20.7
125	Kedzie-Homan	20.5
126	Ashland/63rd	19.7
127	Harlem (Blue Line – Forest Park)	19.1
128	Laramie	17.8
129	Forest Park	17.2
129	Central (Green Line – Lake Street)	17.2
131	Pulaski (Pink Line)	16.9
132	87th	16.8
133	69th	15.8
134	Conservatory	15.7
135	Cicero (Green Line – Lake Street)	13.5
136	63rd	13.3
137	79th	8.3
138	Cicero (Blue Line – Forest Park)	7.1
139	Kildare	5.1
140	95/Dan Ryan	4.5
141	King Drive	4.2
142	Pulaski (Blue Line – Forest Park)	1.3