CTA sees bump in ridership in best month since pandemic
CHICAGO - The CTA continues to see gradual ridership increases, with May being the best month since the pandemic, but use of the mass transit system remains low compared to 2019 levels, officials said Wednesday.
CTA officials discussed ridership levels and development projects at its monthly board meeting.
In May, the CTA generated $35.7 million in revenue, $4.5 million higher than a year ago. Through the first five months of this year, the CTA has generated about $163 million in revenue, about $23.2 million more than the same period last year.
Total CTA expenditures in May amounted to about $139.7 million, with most of the money going toward labor costs.
May was the best month for CTA ridership since the pandemic with 24.3 million rides, according to CTA data. This is about 15% higher than May of last year, when 21.1 million rides were taken.
The current numbers are far below pre-pandemic levels. CTA ridership in May 2019 totaled about 40.3 million rides, according to agency data. In May of this year, buses reached 67% of 2019 ridership levels, and rail reached 53% of 2019 ridership levels, CTA officials said Wednesday.
"Each week, we continue to see a trend of slow but steady increases in ridership," Lester Barclay, chairman of the CTA board, said at the meeting.
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The week of June 4-10 was the best CTA ridership week since the pandemic, with 5.63 million rides, according to a CTA news release. In addition to the warmer weather, events that contributed to the ridership jump included Taylor Swift’s June concert at Soldier Field, Midsommarfest in Andersonville, the Chicago Blues Fest in Millennium Park and the Old Town Art Fair.
These boosts in ridership are due to increases in peak and off-peak ridership, CTA officials said Wednesday. As more people return to work and office occupancies rise, weekday commuter ridership is increasing.
CTA ridership on June 25, the date of the Chicago Pride Parade, reached the second-highest total of any Sunday during the pandemic with more than 554,000 rides. That number is second only to the rides taken the Sunday of the 2022 Bank of America Marathon.
During NASCAR weekend July 1-2, the CTA reached the second-highest ridership of any Saturday this year, even accounting for rainy weather.
The CTA on Wednesday also announced a new online performance dashboard that allows riders to track the CTA’s performance. The updated performance metrics report is an interactive dashboard that will be updated monthly, according to a press release.
Monthly CTA performance metrics have been publicly available for years, but the reports were previously noninteractive. The new dashboard assesses various areas of performance, including ridership figures, bus and rail cleanliness and hiring patterns for bus and rail operators.
"This is a tool for riders to be able to learn about not only their own route and how it’s changed over time, but get a sense of an overall bird’s-eye view of the organization," CTA spokesperson Maddie Kilgannon said of the new dashboard.
CTA officials also discussed progress on the Refresh and Renew program, a station revitalization program that seeks to promote safety and security on buses and trains. As part of the 2023 program, 29 CTA rail stations across all lines, excluding the Yellow Line, will see improvements such as replacing outdated signs and removing graffiti.
Of the 29 stations, seven have been revamped as part of the initiative, CTA officials said at the meeting. For example, the staircases at the Howard Red Line stop were recently repainted, and the canopy rooftop of the Cicero Green Line station was painted green.
"We want to best serve the customers that are traveling on CTA vehicles with the resources we have and to attract riders back to CTA," Barclay said.