The Chicago 'L' is an urban rapid transit system serving Chicago and eight of its adjacent suburbs. In 2002,
- 460,000 people rode the system each weekday
- 260,000 rode each Saturday, and
- 150,000 rode each Sunday.
While the 'L' is the most famous and distinctive of Chicagoland's mass transit offerings, most transit trips in the City of Chicago use the CTA's 146-route bus network at least in part.
Unlike many cities' systems, considerable parts of the "L" are elevated -- hence the system's nickname. Other parts of the 'L', though, reside in subways, at grade level, or in expressway medians. Chicago pioneered this last form of right-of-way in the 1950s. Regardless of altitude, Chicagoans refer their rapid transit system's entirety as "the 'L'".
In 1993, the CTA replaced the historical names of the 'L's seven lines, derived from a given line's terminals, with seven color names (listed in order of ridership):
- Red (formerly "Howard - Dan Ryan")
- Blue ("O'Hare - Congress - Douglas")
- Brown ("Ravenswood")
- Green ("Lake - Englewood - Jackson Park")
- Orange (new in 1993, no former name)
- Purple ("Evanston Express" and "Evanston Shuttle")
- Yellow ("Skokie Swift")
Four of these lines (Brown, Green, Orange, and Purple) converge in Chicago's central business district to form a rectangular "Loop" roughly 500m long east-to-west and 900m long north-to-south. While many believe that the city's center earned the name "Loop" from this very conspicuous section of the 'L', the term actually predates the 'L' and refers to a now-retired circular routing of streetcars through downtown.
The Red and Blue lines serve the heart of Chicago via subways under State and Dearborn streets, respectively. The Skokie Swift, a shuttle from Howard Street at the city's northmost limit to Dempster Avenue in suburban Skokie, does not serve the vicinity of the Loop.
Connections to commuter rail, intercity rail, and airports:
- Chicago Union Station, terminal for all Amtrak and many Metra trains, is closest to the 'L's Clinton (Blue Line) and Quincy (Brown, Orange, and Purple Line) stations.
- The Loop and subways are also close to the other three Metra terminals.
- The 'L' directly serves both O'Hare Airport (Blue Line) and Midway Airport (Orange Line).
Outlying transfer points between 'L' trains and Metra:
- Main St, Purple Line / Main St, Metra UP-N
- Davis St, Purple Line / Main St, Metra UP-N
- Irving Park, Blue Line / Irving Park UP-NW
- Montrose, Blue Line / Mayfair, Metra MD-N
- Jefferson Park, Blue Line / Jefferson Park UP-NW
- Kedzie, Green Line / Kedzie UP-W
- Harlem, Green Line / Oak Park UP-W
- Western, Blue Line (Douglas Branch) / Western Ave BNSF
Suburbs served by the L:
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