Chicago Bus Ridership Monthly Averages and Totals Since 2001

Monthly averages segmented by weekday, Saturday, and Sunday/Holiday day types, alongside monthly totals for all Chicago Transit Authority bus routes. The dataset provides longitudinal public transit performance data from 2001 onward, compiled by the City of Chicago. This enables analysis of ridership patterns across different service days over more than two decades.

Use Cases

• Analyze ridership trends by day type (weekday, Saturday, Sunday/Holiday) to assess service demand patterns.
• Compare monthly totals across different years to evaluate the long-term impact of events or policy changes on bus usage.
• Model seasonal variations in ridership using the monthly average and total figures.
• Benchmark performance of individual bus routes using the provided monthly metrics.

Strengths

• Data coverage extends back to 2001, offering over 20 years of historical transit records.
• Metrics are disaggregated by specific day types (weekday, Saturday, Sunday/Holiday), enabling granular temporal analysis.
• Produced by the authoritative City of Chicago organization, ensuring official data provenance.

Limitations

• The dataset lacks raw, trip-level data, providing only pre-aggregated monthly averages and totals.
• Specific calculation methodology is detailed in a separate readme file, requiring additional review for precise interpretation.
• The absence of column-level metadata limits immediate understanding of the data structure and available fields.

Provenance

Source

City of Chicago

Collection Method

Aggregated from Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) operational records.

Time Range

2001 to present

Freshness

Data is updated regularly, with a recent update timestamp in March 2026.

Geography

Chicago, Illinois, USA