Transportation Statistics Annual Report 1997

Abstract

This document is the fourth Transportation Statistics Annual Report (TSAR) prepared by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) for the President and Congress. As in previous years, it reports on the state of U.S. transportation system at two levels. First, in Part I, it provides a statistical and interpretive survey of the system—its physical characteristics, its economic attributes, aspects of its use and performance, and the scale and severity of unintended consequences of transportation, such as fatalities and injuries, oil import dependency, and environment impacts. Part I also explores the state of transportation statistics, and new needs of the rapidly changing world of transportation. Second, Part II of the report, as in prior years, explores in detail the performance of the U.S. transportation system from the perspective of desired social outcomes or strategic goals. This year, the performance aspect of transportation chosen for thematic treatment is “Mobility and Access,” which complements past TSAR theme sections on “The Economic Performance of Transportation” (1995) and “Transportation and the Environment” (1996). Mobility and access are at the heart of the transportation system’s performance from the user’s perspective. In what ways and to what extent does the geographic freedom provided by transportation enhance personal fulfillment of the nation’s residents and contribute to economic advancement of people and businesses? This broad question underlies many of the topics examined in Part II: What is the current level of personal mobility in the United States, and how does it vary by sex, age, income level, urban or rural location, and over time? What factors explain variations? Has transportation helped improve people’s access to work, shopping, recreational facilities, and medical services, and in what ways and in what locations? How have barriers, such as age, disabilities, or lack of an automobile, affected these accessibility patterns? How are commodity flows and transportation services responding to global competition, deregulation, economic restructuring, and new information technologies? How do U.S. patterns of personal mobility and freight movement compare with other advanced industrialized countries, formerly centrally planned economies, and major newly industrializing countries? Finally, how is the rapid adoption of new information technologies influencing the patterns of transportation demand and the supply of new transportation services? Indeed, how are information technologies affecting the nature and organization of transportation services used by individuals and firms?