The Bureau of Transportation Statistics Priorities for the Future (1997) / Chapter Skim
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2 HISTORY AND ASSESSMENT OF BTS
2 HISTORY AND ASSESSMENT OF BTS
Pages 13-30
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From page 13... ...
, established in 1967, is organized along modal lines (see Appendix B for information on the modal administrations and their statistical units)
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From page 14... ...
Federal support for railroads dates back even further, to the Civil War. When USDOT was established as an entity in 1967, the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the other modal administrations that were brought under the departmental umbrella continued to a large extent to operate at arm' s length from one another.
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From page 15... ...
Regional and local transportation agencies and transportation researchers have for decades spent substantial time and resources to understand travel behavior patterns and the socioeconomic determinants of such travel. They have a long history of using travel surveys, census data, and market research in the development and use of travel forecasting methods.
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From page 16... ...
There are significant data collection and analysis capabilities located in several modal administrations of USDOT.
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From page 17... ...
The center should: develop a national transportation performance monitoring system; issue a biennial report about the state of transportation; take responsibility for national passenger and freight flow surveys; engage in cooperative activities with other transportation data providers, including other USDOT modal administrations, to develop links among existing data sources and identify data gaps; and establish mechanisms for obtaining user input on transportation data needs. The transportation data center was envisioned as building bridges to other data programs rather than supplanting them.
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From page 18... ...
reached a similar conclusion about the desirability of establishing a statistical agency with a broad mandate within USDOT. In August 1991, the NAPA panel stated that "a strong organizational focus is needed in the Department to develop adequate transportation statistics on a continuing basis" (National Academy of Public Administration, 1991~.
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From page 19... ...
In other words, BTS was to take direct responsibility for intermodal data and provide leadership to identify information needs but work cooperatively with the modal administrations to obtain relevant data from their collection programs and other sources. Why a Statistical Agency Congress could have chosen some organizational structure other than a separate statistical agency by which to remedy the gaps and deficiencies in transportation data.
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From page 20... ...
states: One reason for establishing a separate statistical agency, rather than leaving statistical data compilation and dissemination activities as a part of a larger administrative operation, is to emphasize the principles and qualities of an effective statistical agency, for example, professional standards and confidentiality, as well as consistency of classifications or breadth of coverage. Another reason is to encourage research and the development of new information in a particular area of public interest.
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From page 21... ...
The case for a statistical agency within USDOT with a broad mandate was made clear. ASSESSING BTS Experience with the development of national statistics suggests that it takes many years to develop the capabilities, stature, and credibility required for an effective statistical agency in a cabinet department (see, e.g., Duncan and Shelton, 1978; Norwood, 1995~.
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From page 22... ...
The first reports from the American Travel Survey are scheduled for release in summer 1997. BTS has also contributed funds for related surveys sponsored by other USDOT modal administrations, such as the Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey sponsored by the Office of Highway Information Management in the Fed
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From page 23... ...
Its first CD-ROM was the Transportation Data Sampler-l, containing selected databases and reports from USDOT modal administrations and other sources. This product was produced in time to be provided to the thousands of people who attended the January 1993 annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board, just a month after the BTS staff first thought of the idea and only a few months after BTS began operations.
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From page 25... ...
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From page 26... ...
, together with descriptions of other data sources and links to the home pages of other USDOT modal administrations from which data can be obtained. In addition, the site includes the National Transportation Library, which provides under more than a dozen headings the full text of transportation-related reports, analyses, and papers obtained from private and public sources (see Figure 2-2~.
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From page 27... ...
Inclusion in the National Transportation Library does not necessarily constitute endorsement by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the U.S. Department of Transportation, or its agents.
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From page 28... ...
· BTS is developing ways to work more closely with state DOTs and MPOs to identify their information needs; to consider the appropriate role of federal, state, and local agencies in data collection and dissemination; to review the implications of technological advances for data collection and dissemination; and to develop means of technical assistance to states and localities to make more effective use of national transportation data sets. To date, BTS has conducted interviews with officials in selected states and sponsored a conference in spring 1997 for state and local officials jointly with the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, the American Association of State Highway and
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From page 29... ...
· BTS has made a priority for fiscal 1998 to begin work with the other modal administrations to develop relevant and timely indicators of the national transportation system. Discussion Despite the initial efforts described above to carry out the full mandate of the ISTEA, the primary focus of BTS's efforts to date has been on functions 1 and 5 bringing together and making available a wide range of transportation data, references, and analytical materials in formats that are readily accessible by users.
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From page 30... ...
Discussions with representatives of other USDOT modal administrations and with such key constituencies as state officials provide subjective evidence that BTS has become visible to the user community and is believed to be making a positive contribution. These users value BTS's role in bringing together disparate data sets and providing convenient access to a wide range of data sources and reports that bear on transportation issues.
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