It has on average 12,509 passengers, counting branch divisions, boarding each weekday as of February 2013, according to the Chicago Transit Authority.

[1] The branch is 6.5 miles (10.5 km)[2] long with a total of 8 stations, and runs from the Near South Side to the Washington Park neighborhood of Chicago.

The South Side Elevated serves the Near South Side, Douglas, Bronzeville, Grand Boulevard, and Washington Park neighborhoods of Chicago and has stops near the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago.

The Jackson Park branch was added later in 1893 to serve the site of the 1893 World's Fair.

Today, only the Englewood (now Ashland) and Jackson Park (now East 63rd) branches remain.