South Shore Line ridership still hasn't recovered from the pandemic, but there is one bright spot.
"Our discretionary ridership is doing amazing. That's our weekends and our midday, off-peak trains. Those are coming back very strong," Kelly Wenger with the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District told the NICTD board last week.
In fact, off-peak and weekend ridership was higher in the first two months of 2022 than it was in the first two months of 2019, although Wenger cautioned that ridership was low that year, due to weather.
But rush hour ridership continues to be a challenge, and the recovery will depend on what Chicago businesses decide to do, when it comes to requiring employees to return to the office. Busing due to the Double Track project may also impact ridership this year.
