The Chicago Transit Authority said it provided nearly 26 million rides in October, the highest monthly total since the start of the pandemic.

The CTA said 6.33 million rides took place during the first week of October, ridership boosted by good weather and out-of-town marathon runners. The first week of October included 1.53 million rides Oct. 3 and 1.56 million Oct. 4.

“The increase in marathon ridership over last year is the result of the work we have been doing to recover post-pandemic. These ridership numbers are made possible by our aggressive hiring and retention efforts over the past year,” CTA President Dorval R. Carter Jr. said in a news release.

Bus ridership in 2023 has increased 22% in 2023 compared to 2022, the agency said. Train ridership is up 15%.