South Cook News

Montrose (Blue Line - O'Hare) station ridership increased by 83.7 percent during August 2022 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).

Montrose (Blue Line - O'Hare) station saw the largest increase in ridership.

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 2021 to 2022 (%)
1	Montrose (Blue Line - O'Hare)	83.7
2	Quincy/Wells	61.6
3	Washington/Wells	49.2
4	LaSalle/Van Buren	49.1
5	Clinton (Blue Line - Forest Park)	41
6	Rockwell	35.3
7	Merchandise Mart	34.5
8	Morgan	34.4
9	Irving Park (Brown Line)	34.3
10	Ashland (Green Line - Lake Street)	33
11	Monroe (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway)	32
11	Halsted (Orange Line)	32
13	Cermak	31.2
14	Fullerton	31
14	Clinton (Green Line - Lake Street)	31
16	Addison (Brown Line)	30
16	Clark/Lake	30
16	Racine	30
16	Medical Center	30
20	California (Green Line - Lake Street)	28.8
21	Noyes	28.5
22	Midway Airport	28.3
23	Wellington	28.2
24	Lake	27.6
25	Western (Blue Line - O'Hare)	27.5
26	Southport	27.4
27	Armitage	27.1
28	Western (Orange Line)	27
28	Washington	27
30	Roosevelt	26.3
31	Diversey	25.9
32	Oakton	25.5
33	Monroe (Red Line - State Street Subway)	25.2
34	South Boulevard	24.8
35	Pulaski (Orange Line)	24.4
35	Kedzie (Orange Line)	24.4
37	Francisco	24.2
38	35th/Archer	24.1
39	Jackson (Blue Line - Dearborn Subway)	23.6
40	Logan Square	23.5
40	Ashland (Orange Line)	23.5
42	Harold Washington Library	23
42	North/Clybourn	23
42	Damen (Brown Line)	23
42	Jarvis	23
46	State/Lake	22.3
47	Adams/Wabash	22
47	Chicago (Blue Line - O'Hare)	22
47	UIC-Halsted	22
47	California (Blue Line - O'Hare)	22
51	Division	21.4
52	Western (Brown Line)	21.3
52	Paulina	21.3
54	Kedzie (Brown Line)	21
54	Sheridan	21
54	Belmont (Blue Line - O'Hare)	21
57	Foster	20.3
57	Chicago (Brown Line)	20.3
59	LaSalle	20.2
60	Damen (Pink Line)	20.1
61	Kildare	19.8
62	Grand (Blue Line - O'Hare)	19.7
62	43rd	19.7
64	Austin (Green Line - Lake Street)	19.6
65	Oak Park (Green Line - Lake Street)	19.4
66	Belmont (Red Line - North Side)	19.3
66	Cermak-Chinatown	19.3
68	Addison (Blue Line - O'Hare)	18.9
69	Argyle	18.8
69	Garfield (Red Line - Dan Ryan)	18.8
71	Jackson (Red Line - State Street Subway)	18.5
72	54th/Cermak	18.4
72	Kimball	18.4
74	Sedgwick	18.3
75	Jefferson Park	18.2
76	Pulaski (Pink Line)	18
76	Washington/Wabash	18
76	Rosemont	18
76	Central Park	18
76	Ridgeland	18
76	Austin (Blue Line - Forest Park)	18
82	Cumberland	17.4
83	Chicago (Red Line - North Side)	17.1
84	O'Hare Airport	17
84	51st	17
84	Montrose (Brown Line)	17
84	Thorndale	17
84	Harlem (Blue Line - O'Hare)	17
89	Dempster-Skokie	16.3
89	Western (Pink Line)	16.3
91	Oak Park (Blue Line - Forest Park)	15.8
92	Garfield (Green Line - South Elevated)	15.7
93	Granville	15.5
94	Wilson	15.3
94	Polk	15.3
96	Harrison	15
96	Bryn Mawr	15
98	18th	14.2
99	Damen (Blue Line - O'Hare)	14.1
100	95/Dan Ryan	13.8
100	Western (Blue Line - Forest Park)	13.8
100	47th (Green Line - South Elevated)	13.8
103	Grand (Red Line - North Side)	13.2
104	Central (Purple Line - Evanston)	12.8
105	Kedzie (Green Line - Lake Street)	12.6
106	Morse	12.5
107	Main	12.3
108	Laramie	11.7
109	Kedzie-Homan	11
109	87th	11
109	Davis	11
109	Howard	11
113	Loyola	10.3
113	Addison (Red Line - North Side)	10.3
115	Cicero (Pink Line)	10
115	Dempster	10
117	47th (Red Line - Dan Ryan)	9.2
118	Cicero (Green Line - Lake Street)	9
118	Cicero (Blue Line - Forest Park)	9
120	Clark/Division	8.4
121	Central (Green Line - Lake Street)	8.2
122	Harlem (Green Line - Lake Street)	8.1
123	Linden	7.5
124	35-Bronzeville-IIT	7.2
125	Kedzie (Pink Line)	6.8
126	79th	6.1
127	Conservatory	5.1
128	63rd	4.5
129	Forest Park	3.9
130	Halsted (Green Line - Ashland/63rd Branch)	3.8
131	Indiana	3.5
132	Kostner	3.1
133	69th	2.5
134	Irving Park (Blue Line - O'Hare)	1
134	Sox-35th	1
134	Ashland/63rd	1