[Excerpts from the Conference Report, Discussion related to the Bureau
of Transportation Statistics from the Intermodal Surface Transportation
Efficiency Act of 1991. Report: H. Conf. R. 102-404, November 26,
1991. Bill: H.R. 2950, P.L. 102-240]
Report Excerpt
Bureau of Transportation Statistics
Advisory Council on Transportation Statistics
DOT Data Needs
Level of Effort
State Level of Effort
Allocation Formula Study
Duties of Secretary; Office of Intermodalism
Bureau of Transportation
Statistics (Sec. 606)
[Pages 459-462 of the Report]
House bill
No comparable provision.
Senate amendment
The Senate amendment amends sec. 303 of title 23 U.S.C. to create a
Bureau of Transportation Statistics, to be headed by a Director appointed
by the President, to collect information on the performance of the national
transportation system, to produce annual estimates of the use, productivity,
safety, durability, and environmental effects of transportation systems,
and to report these results annually to Congress.
Conference substitute
The conference agreement accepts the Senate language, with several
modifications. It changes the reporting interval to once every two
years, requires the Bureau to collect data relative to intermodal transportation,
and affirms that the existence of the Bureau does not relieve the modal
Administrators from responsibility of data collection and dissemination.
$90 million is authorized from the Highway Trust Fund to fund the operation
of the Bureau.
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics shall be responsible for compiling,
analyzing, and publishing a comprehensive set of transportation statistics
of sufficient scope, quality, relevance, and reliability that Federal and
nonfederal agencies and Congress have adequate and accurate information
about the availability, reliability, costs, and benefits of alternative
transportation technologies to make informed decisions about how best to
allocate Federal funds among transportation projects and programs.
Such information should include productivity in various portions of the
transportation sector, traffic flows, travel times, vehicle weights, variables
affecting the choices people make about travel (including the mode, time,
and willingness to pay), the availability and number of passengers served
by mass transit for each transit authority, the frequency of vehicle and
infrastructure repairs and resulting losses of time and money, frequency
of accidents, injuries and fatalities, damage to the environment resulting
from transportation, and the condition of transportation infrastructure.
All data shall, to the extent practicable, be comparable across transportation
modes and intermodal transport systems. The conferees intend that
all such statistics must have a sound scientific basis, be as free as possible
from bias resulting from data collection or interpretation procedures,
and they must be widely accepted by decision-makers as accurate and relevant.
The Director of the Bureau shall, in cooperation with the modal administrators,
other federal agencies, the States, and other nonfederal entities, pursue
a comprehensive program for the collection and analysis of data relating
to the performance of the national transportation system.
A necessary step in this process is developing better indicators for
productivity, efficiency, energy use, air quality related to vehicle operation,
congestion, safety, maintenance, and other factors that reflect the overall
performance of the surface transportation system. It is the intention
of the conferees that the Director be directly involved in planning and
review of the research to develop performance indicators for the national
transportation systems. The most often reported indicators of productivity
of transportation today are weight-miles or person-miles per employee-hour.
While the underlying data are easily collected, these indicators are inadequate
because they convey little information about important issues such as amount
of fuel consumed, the cost of maintaining and repairing infrastructure
and vehicles, the amount of pollution produced, the number of injuries,
the reliability of timely arrival, and other factors that affect the costs
and benefits of alternative decisions involved in transportation infrastructure
planning. It is the intention of the conferees that the Director
insure that such indicators are identified, and that data relative to their
measurement are collected, analyzed, and reported.
The Director shall assure that data and other information are collected
in such a manner as to maximize the ability to compare data from different
regions, and over time, such that trends and regional differences, if they
exist, can be detected and analyzed for statistical significance.
The Director shall insure that the data are quality-controlled for accuracy,
and promulgate guidelines for the collection of such information to insure
that the information is accurate, reliable, relevant, and in a form that
permits systematic analysis.
The Director shall coordinate the activities of the Bureau with related
information gathering activities of other agencies. The conferees
intend that data managed by the Bureau shall not be limited to highway
transportation, but is extended to include rail, maglev, and intermodal
transportation systems involving rail, highways, ships, and air transport.
The purpose of this change in section 115 of the previous Act is to ensure
that the efficiency and productivity of the transportation systems in the
United States is maximized. This cannot be done by developing newer
technology for highways alone. Strategic research planning must consider
the importance of potential and actual products in the context of competing
transport modes or economies of intermodal approaches to transport.
The conferees intend that the Bureau integrate environmental effects and
economics into transportation statistics, and that the Director coordinate
data collection activities with those of the Environmental Protection Agency,
the Department of Commerce, and other government agencies, wherever appropriate.
The Director shall make transportation statistics readily available
to federal and non-federal agencies and other organizations. It is
the intention of the conferees that data managed by the Bureau be accessible
in computerized format, with adequate documentation and user-services.
The Director shall review information needs at least annually with the
Advisory Council on Transportation Statistics and make recommendations
to appropriate officials responsible for research programs in the Department
of Transportation and other agencies involved in indicator research and
development. The Director shall appoint an Advisory Council on Transportation
Statistics, comprised of no more than six private citizens who have experience
in transportation statistics and analysis (at least one of whom should
have expertise in economics) to provide advice on the operation of the
Bureau. The Council shall be subject to the provisions of the Federal
Advisory Committee Act. It is the intention of the conferees that
at least one of the Council members be a professional statistician.
No later than one year after the start of Bureau operations, the Bureau
shall enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences for
a study of the adequacy of the data collection resources, needs, and requirements,
including data collection procedures and capabilities, data analysis procedures
and capabilities, the ability of data bases to integrate with one another,
computer hardware and software capabilities, information management systems
(and their ability to integrate with one another), personnel, and budgets.
The report shall be delivered within 18 months of initiation of the agreement,
and should include recommendations for improving data collection systems,
procedures, hardware, software, and information management systems.
It is the intention of the conferees that this study serve as the first
of the annual data reviews required of the Director.
Nothing in paragraph (1) shall authorize the Bureau to require the collection
of data by any other monitoring Department, or to establish observation
or monitoring programs. It is the intention of the conferees that
the Director use Bureau resources to enhance data collection, analysis,
and reporting by other organizations to fill identified data gaps, rather
than to organize stand-alone monitoring programs, in order to insure the
most cost-effective use of transportation monitoring resources.
The Bureau shall be under the direction of a Director of Transportation
Statistics, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice
of the Senate. The Director shall have substantial technical experience
in the compilation and analysis of transportation statistics. The
term of the appointment shall be four years, to begin within 180 days of
enactment of this Act. It is the intention of the conferees that
the term of office of the Director shall overlap that of the President.
The Director shall report directly to the Secretary and be compensated
at Executive Level V of the Executive schedule. The conferees intend
that the Director be given substantial latitude to insure that the Bureau
data and information are not biased in any way by political considerations,
and that release of the data not be subject policy review.
Data collected by the Bureau shall not be disclosed publicly in a manner
that would reveal the personal identity of an individual, consistent with
the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), or to reveal trade secrets and
commercial or financial information provided by any person to be identified
with such person. The conferees recognize that statistics may become
biased if the very fact that a datum is being measured causes the object
of measurement to change its characteristics or behavior. This may
happen if data collected for the purpose of describing a system also can
be used to cause harm to someone by legal or economic means. If this
happens people may take great pains to conceal the true characteristics
of the object. In order to avoid such bias, the conferees intend
that the Director establish such procedures as necessary to ensure that
all Bureau data are collected and stored in such a way that they cannot
be used to prosecute individuals or reveal business information that could
harm persons or corporations. The conferees intend that the Director
consult with officials involved in other Federal data collection activities
to identify the most appropriate means to meet the criteria.
The Director shall produce annual reports on transportation statistics
and submit them to Congress, the states, and other interested parties.
These reports shall compare transportation statistics among the states
and regions, as well as reporting on trends at the state, regional and
national level. The conferees intend that if the statistics are based
on estimates, rather than complete censuses, quantitative estimates of
precision and statistical significance of trends and changes also shall
be provided. The report shall include such indicators as are enumerated
in section 303(b), indicators developed under section 115(a)(3), and other
indicators, as appropriate for conducting cost-benefit analyses, prioritizing
transportation system problems, and analyzing proposed solutions.
In the estimation of costs and benefits, the conferees, intend that it
is not acceptable to set a cost or benefit at zero only because it cannot
be quantified precisely. The conferees also intend that opportunity
costs and costs such as decreased property values next to rights-of-way
should be included, as well as benefits associated with increased reliability,
more enjoyable travel, and other social costs and benefits.
The Director should, wherever feasible, use data already collected by
the modal Administrators or other agencies. The Director should identify
any additional specifications or quality assurance that must be applied
to such data to ensure that it meets the needs of the Bureau.
$90 million is authorized to conduct the work of the Bureau. The
conferees intend that the Bureau be funded at a minimum of $4 million during
fiscal year 1992, plus $500,000 to begin the National Academy of Sciences
study. It is the intent of the conferees that the Bureau be funded
at no less than $25 million per year in the last year of this authorization.
Advisory Council on Transportation
Statistics
[Page 462 of the Report]
House bill
No comparable provision.
Senate Amendment
The House amendment provides for the establishment of an Advisory Council
on Transportation Statistics to advise the Director of the Bureau of Transportation
Statistics.
Conference substitute
The Conference substitute is the Senate provision.
DOT Data Needs
[Pages 462-463 of the Report]
House bill
The House bill requires the Secretary to enter into an agreement with
the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study on the adequacy of
data collection procedures and capabilities of the Department of Transportation.
Senate amendment
The Senate amendment requires a similar data needs study but requires
the Secretary to consult with the Director of the Bureau of Transportation
Statistics in entering into the agreement with the National Academy of
Sciences.
Conference substitute
The Conference substitute is the Senate provision.
Level of Effort
[Pages 385-386 of the Report]
House bill
No comparable provision.
Senate amendment
Provides additional funding to states who have a lower than average
per capita discretionary spending and higher than average gasoline tax.
Conference substitute
Senate recedes to House.
The conference agreement includes a study to measure a state's total
level of effort with regard to state highway expenditures. Three
months after date of enactment, the Secretary and the newly formed DOT
Bureau of Statistics are directed to conduct a study of state level of
effort. Not later than nine months, the Secretary is to provide such
report to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the House
Committee on Public Works.
The Secretary is directed to use data reflecting state and local revenue
support for highways. This data shall include: income fuel
taxes, toll revenues including bridge tolls and highway tolls, property
taxes used for highways, bonds, administrative fees such as vehicle registration
and driver license fees collected that may be expended by a state for highway
expenses, taxes on commercial vehicles and other appropriate state and
local revenue sources.
There was much discussion on the Senate floor with regard to how best
to measure a state's total level of effort. The conferees direct
the Secretary to conduct a comprehensive study that will compare a state's
total level of effort comparing revenues raised and expended for highway
purposes with per capita income.
State Level of Effort
[Page 465 of the Report]
House bill
The House bill directs the Secretary to begin a comprehensive study
of the most appropriate and accurate methods of calculating State level
of effort in funding surface transportation programs.
The study shall examine data relating to state and local revenues collected
and spent on surface transportation programs, including fuel taxes, toll
revenue, sales taxes, general fund appropriations, property taxes, bonds,
administrative fees, taxes on commercial vehicles, and other state and
local revenue sources.
The Secretary is to report to the Congress within 12 months of enactment
with recommendations.
Senate amendment
The Senate amendment is similar to the House provision except that
it requires the study to be conducted jointly by the Secretary and the
Director of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The report is
to be submitted to Congress within none months of enactment.
Conference substitute
The conference substitute is the Senate amendment.
Allocation Formula Study
[Page 383 of the Report]
House bill
No comparable provision.
Senate amendment
The Senate amendment authorizes a study to be conducted to determine
a fair and equitable apportionment formula for the allocation of Federal-aid
highway funds.
Conference substitute
The conference substitute contains the allocation formula study.
Duties of the Secretary:
Office of Intermodalism
[Pages 450-452 of the Report]
House bill
The Director is required to develop an intermodal transportation data
base in coordination with states and metropolitan planning organizations.
The compilation of such data, especially along state and regional lines,
is crucial to the development of an efficient transportation system.
The data base is to include information on the movement of people and goods
by intermodal transportation, patterns of movements by intermodal transportation,
and information on public and private investment in intermodal transportation
facilities and services.
Senate amendment
No comparable provision.
Conference substitute
The conference substitute adopts the House provision except that the
Office of Intermodalism is created within the Office of the Secretary.
The Director is required to collect, maintain and disseminate intermodal
transportation data through the new Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
...
The Office will create a national data base with information on flows
of people and goods to and from major metropolitan areas, to indicate the
mode of choice and where two or more modes are used. The Office should
also maintain policy balance within the Department between transportation
modes and work to assure interconnectivity of all transportation modes.
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