Findings 1:

As we look at the data or, the opacity of each station on the map during 2021, it seems that there were more riders on Red Line than any other line. We can also observe that O'Hare station has the most riders of all stations when we look at every line.

Findings 2:

As we zoom in towards the loop, we can see that there are significantly more riders at stations in the loop and more ridership on Red Line stations near the loop. One more interesting observation we can see is that the UIC-Halsted station stands out with darker blue shade as it contains more than usual entries, which can be explained by the fact that about 85% of UIC students commute to the university.

Findings 3:

Among all the Red line CTA stations, 95th/Dan Ryan was the busiest during Covid lockdown restrictions. It was also the third busiest CTA station in 2020 (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/95th/Dan_Ryan_station).

Findings 4:

In 2019, Lake/State had an average of 19,364 weekday passenger entries, making it the busiest 'L' station (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_station_(CTA)). During the Covid restrictions, it lost momentum in ridership. But after the restrictions were removed, it again became the busiest red line staiton.

Findings 5:

Sox 35th Dan Ryan station usually has less number of riders but during games or concerts at Chicago White Sox statidum the ridership data spikes. On September 24, 2016, Chicago White Sox stadium had a record attendance of 47,754 hosting a concert of Chance the Rapper (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guaranteed_Rate_Field). Thus, we can see that the Sox 35th Dan Ryan station almost had as many entries of ridership as Ohare Airport that day.

Findings 6:

As we can clearly see, most of the CTA stations have very less ridership entries on Christmas day (Dec 25th). However, O'Hare remains busy as numerous people fly to and from Chicago Airports during Christmas (Source: https://wgntv.com/news/coronavirus/millions-expected-to-fly-to-and-from-chicago-airports-for-christmas/).

Findings 7:

On March 24, 2014 at 2:50 a.m. local time, a CTA passenger train overran the bumper at O'Hare, injuring 34 people. Following the accident, the line between O'Hare and Rosemont was closed, with a replacement bus service in place. We can clearly see from the bar chart, that due to that incident there were almost no ridership entries on OHare station on 24th March and the following week.

Findings 8:

The Grant Park Music Festival is a ten-week (Jul 2 – Aug 21, 2021) classical music concert series held annually in Chicago, Illinois, United States. During this time Washington/Wabash station remains busy as it is the public transport access to Grant Park. Also, the station remains busy as Millennium Park is a very popular destination for visitors.