System Ridership

Annual ridership figures for the CTA rail, CTA bus, Metra, Pace bus, and Pace ADA transit systems. Data represents unlinked passenger trips and is pulled from the Natioanl Transit Database (NTD).

The file is updated on an annual basis.

THEYEAR: The year the ridership figure was recorded
CTA_BUS: Total number of unlinked passenger trips (in millions) on CTA's bus routes
CTA_RAIL: Total number of unlinked passenger trips (in millions) on CTA's rail lines
CTA_TOTAL: Total number of unlinked passenger trips (in millions) on CTA's transit systems (combination of bus and rail data)
METRA: Total number of unlinked passenger trips (in millions) on Metra's rail lines
PACE: Total number of unlinked passenger trips (in millions) on Pace's bus routes
PACE_ADA: Total number of unlinked passenger trips (in millions) on Pace's ADA system

Some notes regarding the data.

CTA: Starting in 1997, CTA rail ridership includes rail-to-rail transfers. CTA rail ridership figures before and after 1997 are not comparable.
Metra: Starting in 1983, Metra ridership does not include the South Shore Line.
Pace: Starting in 2007, Pace began Reporting ADA ridership separately.