CTA revises 2025 ridership figures upward

The Chicago Transit Authority has revised its ridership figures upward for 2025.

The transit agency said ridership totals for last year were 19 million higher than originally reported.

In a presentation to Chi Hack Night back on May 5, officials said they undercounted the number of rides people took on CTA buses and trains. This was due to limitations in how they previously collected data.

Specifically, a cash farebox hardware change required a change in the estimation of rides that were not recorded by fare collection systems, according to Chi Hack Night.

In particular, bus routes on the city's South and West sides saw dramatically higher ridership numbers compared with those under the CTA's old methodology.

Ridership figures were revised most dramatically upward for five bus lines — the No. 79 (79th Street) with 1,100,000 additional rides or a 22.1% increase, the No. 67 (67th Street), with 474,600 additional rides or a 26.5% increase, the No. 4 (Cottage Grove Avenue) with 893,800 additional rides or a 23.5% increase, the No. 87 (87th Street) with 418,700 additional rides or a 20.8% increase, and the No. 20 (Madison Street) with 731,900 additional rides or a 20.4% increase.

Transit advocates say the asymmetry in the counting error is important to how we talk about the CTA's recovery in the years since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Chicago's poorest and most transit-dependent neighborhoods seeing stronger use than previously understood.