Freight Transportation Services Index
(TSI) Fell 1.9 Percent in August from July
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BTS 48-08
Dave Smallen
202-366-5568 |
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Wednesday, October 8, 2008
- The Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) fell 1.9 percent in August
from its July level, declining after four consecutive monthly increases, the
U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported
today (Table 2).
For the first eight
months of 2008, the freight index advanced 2.2 percent, its largest increase
for the first eight months of the year since 2002. The index rose 0.1 percent
in the first eight months of the year in 2007 (Table 3).
The freight
index has increased in six of the first eight months this year, declining only
in March and August (Table 1). At 110.8
in August, the freight TSI was up 2.6 percent since its recent low of 108.0 in
September 2007 but down 2.1 percent from its historic peak of 113.1 reached in November
2005. For additional historical data, go to http://www.bts.gov/xml/tsi/src/index.xml.
The freight TSI measures the
month-to-month changes in the output of services provided by the for-hire freight
transportation industries. The index
consists of data from for-hire trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and
air freight.
The
August 2008 freight TSI level rose 1.6 percent compared to the August 2007
level of 109.0. During the previous
12-month period, August 2006 to August 2007, the index gained 0.1 percent. The index remains below the August 2005 level
(Table 4).
Despite modest gains
since 2004, the freight index has increased 7.1 percent in five years and 10.4
percent in 10 years (Table 5).
The TSI is a seasonally
adjusted index that measures changes from the monthly average of the base year
of 2000. It includes historic data from
1990 to the present. Release of the September index is scheduled for Nov.
13.
BTS has issued
a new technical report explaining the TSI. BTS Technical Report:
Transportation Services Index and the Economy is available for download at
https://www.bts.gov/pdc/index.xml in the BTS bookstore.
Transportation Services
Index for Passengers
The TSI for passengers rose 0.4 percent
in August from its July level (Table 6). The Passenger TSI August 2008 level of 116.8 was 0.6 percent lower than
the August 2007 level, marking the first year-to-year decrease since August 2002
(Table 7). The passenger index declined for the first eight months of the year
for the first time since 2003 (Table 3). However, the passenger index is up 20.3 percent in five years and 26.5
percent in 10 years (Table 5).
The passenger TSI measures the
month-to-month changes in the output of services provided by the for-hire passenger
transportation industries. The seasonally
adjusted index consists of data from air, local transit and intercity rail.
Combined Freight and Passenger Index
The combined freight and passenger
TSI fell 1.3 percent in August from its July level (Table 8). The combined TSI August
2008 level of 111.9 was 1.1 percent higher than the August 2007 level, the
second consecutive annual increase (Table 9). The combined index also rose for
the first eight months of the year for the second consecutive year (Table 3).
The combined index is up 10.3 percent in five years and 14.5 percent in 10
years (Table 5).
The combined TSI
merges the freight and passenger indexes into a single index.
More on TSI
NOTE: TSI numbers for April (Freight, Passenger and Combined)
were revised because of revisions in the output data of the component
transportation services. The April Freight TSI is 109.5, revised from the 109.4
reported in the September release. The April Passenger TSI is 118.2, revised
from 116.2. The April Combined TSI is 111.2, revised from 110.7. The TSI for May, June, July and August are preliminary.
TSI
revision policy: TSI is updated monthly with the latest four months’ index
numbers considered preliminary. Each month BTS releases the latest
preliminary TSI, and replaces the oldest preliminary TSI with a revised
TSI. More information about the monthly revision policy, the
comprehensive revision conducted in July 2007 and the TSI index is available at http://www.bts.gov/xml/tsi/src/index.xml
Table 1: Freight,
Passenger and Combined Transportation Services Indexes since February 2008
Percent Change by
Month
(Seasonally Adjusted,
Monthly Average of 2000 = 100)
Excel | CSV
February |
111.5 |
0.1 |
116.5 |
-0.5 |
112.4 |
-0.1 |
March |
108.3 |
-2.9 |
117.4 |
0.8 |
110.1 |
-2.0 |
AprilR |
109.5 |
1.1 |
118.2 |
0.7 |
111.2 |
1.0 |
MayP |
111.4 |
1.8 |
116.9 |
-1.1 |
112.4 |
1.1 |
JuneP |
111.5 |
0.1 |
116.9 |
0.0 |
112.5 |
0.0 |
JulyP |
112.9 |
1.2 |
116.3 |
-0.5 |
113.4 |
0.8 |
AugustP |
110.8 |
-1.9 |
116.8 |
0.4 |
111.9 |
-1.3 |
SOURCE: Bureau of Transportation Statistics
NOTE: P = preliminary; R =
revised
NOTE: Percent changes based
on numbers prior to rounding.
Table 2: Freight
Transportation Services Index Monthly Changes, 2005-2008
Percent change from
previous month
Excel | CSV
January |
1.7 |
0.4 |
-0.3 |
2.8 |
February |
-0.9 |
-1.4 |
0.0 |
0.1 |
March |
0.1 |
0.4 |
1.1 |
-2.9 |
April |
-0.3 |
-0.3 |
-0.4 |
(R) 1.1 |
May |
0.0 |
2.4 |
-0.1 |
(P) 1.8 |
June |
-0.4 |
-0.3 |
-0.7 |
(P) 0.1 |
July |
-0.5 |
-0.9 |
0.1 |
(P) 1.2 |
August |
1.0 |
-2.5 |
0.5 |
(P) -1.9 |
September |
-1.3 |
0.9 |
-0.9 |
|
October |
-0.3 |
-0.1 |
1.7 |
|
November |
2.8 |
-1.4 |
0.4 |
|
December |
-1.7 |
0.6 |
-1.7 |
|
SOURCE: Bureau of Transportation Statistics
NOTE: P = preliminary; R =
revised
Table 3: Freight, Passenger and Combined Transportation
Services Indexes Year-to-Date Change, 1999-2008
Percent change from December of previous year
December to August
Excel | CSV
1999 |
2.9 |
2.2 |
2.7 |
2000 |
-3.9 |
5.4 |
-1.0 |
2001 |
2.5 |
2.2 |
2.4 |
2002 |
5.4 |
4.5 |
5.1 |
2003 |
-1.2 |
-0.6 |
-1.0 |
2004 |
1.5 |
4.8 |
2.4 |
2005 |
0.8 |
3.0 |
1.4 |
2006 |
-2.1 |
2.6 |
-1.0 |
2007 |
0.1 |
2.8 |
0.8 |
2008P |
2.2 |
-0.4 |
1.6 |
SOURCE: Bureau of Transportation Statistics
NOTE: P = preliminary
Table 4: Freight Transportation
Services Index from Year-to-Year
Percent change in the
August Freight TSI
(Monthly average of
2000 = 100)
Excel | CSV
1999 |
102.8 |
2.5 |
2000 |
100.9 |
-1.8 |
2001 |
100.3 |
-0.6 |
2002 |
102.5 |
2.2 |
2003 |
103.4 |
0.8 |
2004 |
109.7 |
6.1 |
2005 |
111.8 |
2.0 |
2006 |
108.9 |
-2.6 |
2007 |
109.0 |
0.1 |
2008P |
110.8 |
1.6 |
SOURCE: Bureau of Transportation Statistics
NOTE: P = preliminary
NOTE: Percent changes based
on numbers prior to rounding.
Table 5:
Transportation Services Indexes from Previous Years
Percent Change to 2008 (August to August)
Excel | CSV
2007 |
1 |
1.6 |
-0.6 |
1.1 |
2006 |
2 |
1.7 |
4.6 |
2.4 |
2005 |
3 |
-1.0 |
6.5 |
0.8 |
2004 |
4 |
1.0 |
10.9 |
3.3 |
2003 |
5 |
7.1 |
20.3 |
10.3 |
2002 |
6 |
8.0 |
22.5 |
11.5 |
2001 |
7 |
10.4 |
13.2 |
10.5 |
2000 |
8 |
9.8 |
16.2 |
11.0 |
1999 |
9 |
7.8 |
22.1 |
11.4 |
1998 |
10 |
10.4 |
26.5 |
14.5 |
SOURCE: Bureau of
Transportation Statistics
NOTE: The percent changes to August 2008 are all
preliminary.
Table 6: Passenger
Transportation Services Index Monthly Changes, 2005-2008
Percent change from
previous month
Excel | CSV
January |
1.4 |
1.9 |
-0.1 |
-0.1 |
February |
-0.1 |
-0.6 |
-2.0 |
-0.5 |
March |
0.5 |
1.0 |
2.2 |
0.8 |
April |
0.0 |
0.3 |
0.5 |
(R) 0.7 |
May |
0.8 |
0.6 |
1.5 |
(P) -1.1 |
June |
0.1 |
-1.0 |
-0.2 |
(P) 0.0 |
July |
0.1 |
0.5 |
-0.1 |
(P) -0.5 |
August |
0.2 |
0.0 |
1.1 |
(P) 0.4 |
September |
1.4 |
0.9 |
-0.1 |
|
October |
-1.9 |
0.4 |
0.7 |
|
November |
0.7 |
-0.2 |
-1.5 |
|
December |
-0.9 |
1.1 |
0.7 |
|
SOURCE: Bureau of Transportation Statistics
NOTE: P = preliminary; R =
revised
Table 7: Passenger
Transportation Services Index from Year-to-Year
Percent change in the August
Passenger TSI
(Monthly average of
2000 = 100)
Excel | CSV
1999 |
95.6 |
3.6 |
2000 |
100.5 |
5.0 |
2001 |
103.2 |
2.7 |
2002 |
95.3 |
-7.6 |
2003 |
97.1 |
1.8 |
2004 |
105.3 |
8.5 |
2005 |
109.6 |
4.1 |
2006 |
111.7 |
1.9 |
2007 |
117.4 |
5.2 |
2008P |
116.8 |
-0.6 |
SOURCE: Bureau of Transportation Statistics
NOTE: P = preliminary
NOTE: Percent changes based
on numbers prior to rounding.
Table 8: Combined Transportation
Services Index Monthly Changes, 2005-2008
Percent change from
previous month
Excel | CSV
January |
1.6 |
0.8 |
-0.3 |
2.1 |
February |
-0.7 |
-1.2 |
-0.5 |
-0.1 |
March |
0.2 |
0.6 |
1.4 |
-2.0 |
April |
-0.2 |
-0.1 |
-0.2 |
(R) 1.0 |
May |
0.2 |
2.0 |
0.3 |
(P) 1.1 |
June |
-0.3 |
-0.4 |
-0.6 |
(P) 0.0 |
July |
-0.3 |
-0.6 |
0.0 |
(P) 0.8 |
August |
0.8 |
-1.9 |
0.7 |
(P) -1.3 |
September |
-0.6 |
0.9 |
-0.7 |
|
October |
-0.7 |
0.1 |
1.4 |
|
November |
2.3 |
-1.1 |
-0.1 |
|
December |
-1.5 |
0.7 |
-1.1 |
|
SOURCE: Bureau of Transportation Statistics
NOTE: P = preliminary; R =
revised
Table 9: Combined Transportation
Services Index from Year-to-Year
Percent change in the August
TSI
(Monthly average of
2000 = 100)
Excel | CSV
1999 |
100.5 |
2.9 |
2000 |
100.8 |
0.3 |
2001 |
101.2 |
0.4 |
2002 |
100.3 |
-0.9 |
2003 |
101.4 |
1.1 |
2004 |
108.3 |
6.7 |
2005 |
111.0 |
2.5 |
2006 |
109.3 |
-1.6 |
2007 |
110.7 |
1.3 |
2008P |
111.9 |
1.1 |
SOURCE: Bureau of
Transportation Statistics
NOTE: P = preliminary
NOTE: Percent changes based
on numbers prior to rounding.
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 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.
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