The Cubs World Series win not only ended the longest championship drought in professional sports, but the celebrations that followed the historic win broke numerous records, including the single day record for CTA rail ridership. According to the CTA, the city’s light rail transit system saw over 1.1 million rides (1,146,349 rides to be exact) taken on Friday, November 5th. The parade and rally last Friday also pushed Metra transit to its capacity as thousands flooded in from the suburbs to witness the historic celebration.
While last Friday’s parade and rally broke the CTA’s single day record for rail ridership, it did not break the CTA’s record for total rides in a single day. Between rail and bus fares, the CTA witnessed 1,945,250 total rides last Friday for the World Series celebrations, however the Fourth of July celebrations on July 3, 2008 still holds the all-time record for total rides with 2,049,519 trips made that day.
And perhaps not surprisingly, the other days where the CTA witnessed record numbers of rail riders were on other days where Cubs playoff games took place and previous parades for the Blackhawks’ championships. According to the CTA, the Cubs’ recent playoff runs have really helped bolster rail ridership.
Overall, four of the ten highest rail ridership days on record were achieved during the 2016 Cubs historic playoff run. Three Cubs games from 2015 are also in the top 10 on record, meaning the Cubs helped CTA provide seven of its ten highest rail ridership days on record in just the last two years.
- CTA Breaks Rail Ridership Record With 241M Trips in 2015 [Curbed Chicago]
- Cubs World Series parade brings millions together [Curbed Chicago]
- Chicago transit [Curbed Chicago]
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