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Transportation Services Index (TSI) Index Rose 1.9 Percent in January from December

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Contact BTS 15-05 Dave Smallen 202-366-5568

Wednesday, April 6, 2005 - The Transportation Services Index (TSI) rose 1.9 percent in January to 129.7 (1996=100) from the December level of 127.3, turning upward after a one-month decline in the biggest one-month gain since July 1997, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today (Table 1).

BTS, a part of DOT's Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that the January level of 129.7 for the combined freight and passenger index was 7.4 percent higher than the January 2004 level of 120.8 (Table 2), the biggest January year-to-year gain since 1998 (http://www.bts.gov/xml/tsi/src/datadisp_table.xml). The January 2005 level was 35.9 percent higher than the January level of the base year of 1996 (Table 3).

TSI is a single seasonally adjusted index of the month-to-month changes in the output of services provided by the for-hire transportation industries, including railroad, air, truck, inland waterways, pipeline, and local transit.

The index includes historic data from 1990 to the present. The TSI is still under development and is considered experimental. The index measures changes from the monthly average for the base year of 1996. The next release is scheduled for May 6.

Transportation Services Index for Freight

The TSI for freight rose 1.9 percent to 130.9 in January from the December level of 128.4 turning upward after a one-month decline (Table 1) in the biggest one-month gain since December 2003 (http://www.bts.gov/xml/tsi/src/datadisp_table.xml). The January 2005 level of 130.9 is 7.2 percent higher than the January 2004 level of 122.1, the biggest January year-to-year gain since 1998 (Table 4).

Transportation Services Index for Passengers

The TSI for passengers rose 1.7 percent to 127.4 in January from the December level of 125.3 for the second consecutive monthly increase (Table 1) and the biggest on-month gain since February 2004 (http://www.bts.gov/xml/tsi/src/datadisp_table.xml).  The January 2005 level of 127.4 is 8.0 percent higher than the January 2004 level of 118.0, the biggest January year-to-year gain since 1997 (Table 5).

More on TSI

During the six months ending in January, the TSI rose 2.9 percent, the Freight TSI rose 2.9 percent and the Passenger TSI rose 2.8 percent (table 1).

Notes: TSI numbers for October 2004 (Total, Freight, and Passenger) were revised because of revisions in the output data of the component transportation services. The October TSI is 127.1, revised from 126.7 reported in the March release. The October Freight TSI is 127.8, revised from 127.6. The October Passenger TSI is 125.8, revised from 125.2. The TSI for November, December and January are preliminary.

TSI revision policy: TSI is updated monthly with the latest three months' index numbers considered preliminary.  Each month BTS releases the latest preliminary TSI, and replaces the oldest preliminary TSI with a revised TSI.  All other revisions are held until an annual comprehensive revision of the TSI which will be released as part of the following June TSI release. More information about the revision policy is available at http://www.bts.gov/xml/tsi/src/index.xml.

Table 1: Percent changes in the Transportation Services Index by Month Since July 2004 (Seasonally Adjusted, Monthly Average of 1996 = 100)

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SOURCE: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Note: P = preliminary; R = revised

Table 2: Percent changes in the Transportation Services Index from Year-to-Year January TSI (Monthly average of 1996 = 100)

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SOURCE: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Note: P = preliminary

Table 3: Percent Changes in the Transportation Services Index from Previous Years to 2005 January to January

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SOURCE: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Table 4: Percent changes in the Freight Transportation Services Index from Year-to-Year January Freight TSI  (Monthly average of 1996 = 100)

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SOURCE: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Note: P = preliminary

Table 5: Percent changes in the Passenger Transportation Services Index from Year-to-Year January Passenger TSI  (Monthly average of 1996 = 100)

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SOURCE: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Note: P = preliminary

Brief Explanation of the TSI

The Transportation Services Index (TSI) is a measure of the month-to-month changes in the output of services provided by the for-hire transportation industries. 

The TSI tells us how the output of transportation services has increased or decreased from month to month. The index can be examined together with other economic indicators to produce a better understanding of the current and future course of the economy.   The movement of the index over time can be compared with other economic measures to understand the relationship of changes in transportation output to changes in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The TSI is still under development and is therefore considered experimental. It is being examined for refinements in data sources, methodologies and interpretations.

The freight transportation index consists of:

For hire trucking,
Railroad freight services (including rail based intermodal shipments such as containers on flat cars),
Inland waterways transportation,
Pipeline transportation (including principally petroleum and petroleum products and natural gas), and
Air freight.

The index does not include international or coastal waterborne movements, private trucking, courier services, or the US Postal Service.

The passenger transportation index consists of:

Local transit,
Intercity passenger rail, and
Passenger air transportation.

The index does not include intercity bus, sight seeing services, ferry services, taxi service, private automobile usage, or bicycling and other non-motorized transportation.