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Transit agencies continue logging record ridership; now it’s Metra’s turn.

Northeastern Illinois’ commuter rail trips topped more than 7 million in June. The last time Chicago-area commuters logged that many trips in a month was in December 1980.

This year’s January-to-June ridership also matches 1980’s totals for the same period at 40 million trips. Six-month ridership plummeted to less than 30 million trips in 1983. Metra’s first full year of operating the commuter service was 1985.

Chicagoland on-time performance also continues to score high. The system averaged 97.7 percent on time in May and 97.0 percent in June. Metra’s six-month on-time performance for first half 2000 was 97.5 percent — the highest since 1993, when trains were 97.6 percent on time.