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Border
Crossing/Entry Data
What are the Border Crossing/Entry Data?
The
Border Crossing/Entry Data provides information on vehicles/equipment,
passengers and pedestrians entering the United States through
land ports on the U.S.-Canadian and U.S.-Mexican border. The Bureau of
Transportation Statistics (BTS) obtains these data on a monthly basis from U.S.
Customs and Border Protection. BTS then assesses, analyzes, summarizes and
disseminates monthly and annual Border Crossing/Entry data. Most data elements
are available beginning in 1994.
What does BTS do with the data before
releasing it to the public?
In
order to provide BTS customers with the most relevant data from a
transportation perspective, BTS has developed a system for extracting, processing
and validating Border Crossing Data for all U.S. Customs land ports of entry.
BTS extracts data for all major land ports of entry on the northern and
southern borders. These data are then organized into monthly and annual tables
for each port. Ports are sorted by state, and state totals are aggregated into
totals for the northern and southern borders. During this extraction process,
BTS reviews the data for consistency and consults with the U.S. Customs
Service, the primary source agency, on quality issues. New data are added
approximately five months after the month from which the data are collected.
This processing time is used to validate and revise the data.
How Is the Border Crossing/Entry Data
Disseminated?
The Border Crossing/Entry Data are periodically updated. Data become available approximately six months after the end of the month from which the data are collected. This time allows for receipt of the data from the Customs Service as well as BTS quality assurance and validation.
Data are disseminated to customers, upon request, in both monthly and annual summary tables, and on the Internet at http://www.bts.gov/programs/international/. Customers can request Border Crossing/Entry data by contacting BTS Information Services (by email at RITAInfo@dot.gov or by phone at 800-853-1351).
What exactly do the Border Crossing/Entry
Data cover?
This dataset covers inbound border
crossings. U.S. Customs and Border Protection does not collect data on
outbound border crossings.
The border crossing/entry data do not measure the number of unique
vehicles, containers, passengers, or pedestrians that enter the United States. Rather, the data are the total amount
of crossings that occur in a
given month or year. For example, one drayage truck operating on the southern
border may cross through the port of Laredo, Texas ten
times a day as it loads and unloads shipments between the United States and Mexico.
Are data for air and water modes also
available?
Currently, BTS only tabulates and releases Border
Crossing/Entry Data for land ports of entry on the northern and southern
borders. BTS is assessing the quality of maritime container entries from the
same U.S. Customs source. Other
federal agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Maritime
Administration, and the U.S. Coast Guard also collect information on maritime
activity. For air data, BTS relies upon information from its own Office of
Airline Information (OAI) which collects a wide variety of economic, market and
financial data from U.S. and foreign air carriers at the airport
and route level. Additional information about OAI data can be found at: www.bts.gov/oai.
At what level of detail are the data
reported?
Border Crossing/Entry data are reported at the U.S. Customs
and Border Protection port level. The U.S. Census Bureau maintains a list of
Customs districts/ports, codes and descriptions known as the Schedule D. The
most recent Schedule D is available from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade
Division at: http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/schedules/d/dist2.txt.
How are border ports defined?
Schedule D port definitions represent the U.S. Customs and Border Protection ports, not individual transportation
facilities or infrastructure. Data for specific roads, tunnels or bridges that
pass through the same port are not available separately by U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border
Protection. For
example, there are several bridges that carry traffic through Laredo, but Border Crossing/Entry Data are only available
for the port of Laredo. Data for a specific infrastructure point (such as a
bridge) are generally collected by the company or government agency responsible
for operating and maintaining that piece of infrastructure. Bridge operators
occasionally make their traffic information available. Customs officials at
particular ports should be able to provide contact information for the
operating authorities at the particular facility in question.
BTS and its Canadian counterpart agencies have
compared the geographic level each at which each country reports border
crossing/entry activity. Tables outlining this comparison are available in the
BTS report North American Transportation in
Figures: Appendix C (available at http://www.bts.gov/itt/natf.html).
What are the data elements and how are they defined?
BTS tabulates and
releases data for 12 data elements across five surface modes of
transportation. The 12 data elements are listed below with their corresponding
definitions, as determined by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
-
Truck crossings - Number of
arriving trucks; does not include privately owned pick-up trucks.
-
Truck container
crossings (loaded and unloaded) - A container is any conveyance
entering the U.S. used for commercial purposes, full
or empty. In this case, it is the number of full or empty truck containers
arriving at a port. This series includes containers moving as in-bond
shipments.
-
Train crossings - Number of
arriving trains at a particular port.
-
Rail container
crossings (loaded and unloaded) – A container is any conveyance
entering the U.S. used for commercial purposes, full
or empty. In this case, it is the number of full or empty rail containers
arriving at a port. This series includes containers moving as in-bond
shipments.
-
Passengers crossing
in Trains - Number of passengers and crew arriving by train
and requiring U.S. Customs processing.
-
Bus crossings - Number of
arriving buses at a particular port, whether or not they are carrying
passengers.
-
Passengers crossing
in buses - Number of persons arriving by bus requiring U.S.
Customs processing.
-
Privately owned
vehicle crossings - Number of privately owned
vehicles (POVs) arriving at a particular port. Includes pick-up trucks,
motorcycles, recreational vehicles, taxis, snowmobiles, ambulances, hearses,
and other motorized private ground vehicles.
-
Passengers
crossings in privately owned vehicles - Persons entering
the United States at a particular port by private automobiles, pick-up trucks,
motorcycles, recreational vehicles, taxis, ambulances, hearses, tractors,
snow-mobiles and other motorized private ground vehicles.
-
Pedestrian
crossings - The number of persons arriving on foot or by
certain conveyance (such as bicycles, mopeds, or wheel chairs) requiring U.S.
Customs processing.
What types of changes have occurred with the ports of
San Ysidro and Otay Mesa, CA?
Changes
in port classification have occurred for San Ysidro and Otay Mesa, CA due to
changes in operations at these ports, and resulting reporting changes by U.S.
Customs. San Ysidro and Otay Mesa are two separate U.S. Customs ports,
although they are physically quite close (just six miles apart). In the early
1990s, San Ysidro no longer processed truck crossings. Instead, truck
crossings were diverted to Otay Mesa. U.S. Customs however, did not
immediately publish data differentiating truck crossings at Otay Mesa from San Ysidro.
From 1994 to 1997 crossings at Otay Mesa and San Ysidro were reported as a
combined total. Data elements have been reported separately since the
beginning of 1997, but for the purpose of time series consistency, for freight
crossings (trucks, truck containers loaded and unloaded, trains, rail
containers loaded and unloaded, and train passengers) the port is characterized
as San Ysidro/Otay Mesa. Since 1997, passenger crossings (personal vehicles and
their passengers, bus crossings and their passengers, and pedestrians) have
been reported separately for Otay Mesa and San Ysidro.
How are the Transborder Surface Freight Data different
and/or similar to the Border Crossing/Entry data that BTS also releases?
The Transborder Surface Freight Data
and Border Crossing/Entry Data are separate datasets, and provide different
types of information. They can be used in conjunction with one another to
provide a fuller picture and understanding of U.S. international
trade with Canada and Mexico and the
corresponding flows through particular border ports. Specifically, the
Transborder Surface Freight Data are derived from U.S.
international trade statistics, and therefore provide information on a
particular international shipment and cargo. In contrast, the Border
Crossing/Entry Data provide count information, collected by U.S. Customs on the
number of crossings or entries of people, vehicles and equipment entering the United
States through particular Customs ports of entry.
How are Border Crossing/Entry Data used by
BTS?
BTS uses border crossing/entry data as a
core source for analyses on U.S. and
North American trade and travel. Such analyses are included in interpretive
reports such as the North American Trade and
Travel Trends, U.S. International Travel and
Transportation Trends, and U.S. International Trade and
Freight Transportation Trends.
From a transportation perspective, these data are important because they
provide a level of information on the amount of activity at a given port. BTS
uses the Border Crossing/Entry Data in conjunction with other datasets (such as
the Transborder Surface Freight Data) to assess and track trade and travel
flows, particularly for North
America.
Where can I find information on port operations and
delays?
The U.S. Customs Service
collects information on delays associated with primary and secondary
inspections. The release of this information varies by Customs port. Contact
information for all Customs ports is available at http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/ports/.
In addition to Customs, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) at the U.S.
Department of Transportation has a number of studies and projects underway to better
understand and assess delays at the border. In 2001, FHWA’s Office of Freight
Management and Operations, conducted an on-site review of seven ports-of-entry
that handle over 60 percent of U.S. truck trade among the three NAFTA nations. Linked
with research now under way to simulate border-crossing activity using a model
called “Border Wizard,” these site reviews will enable FHWA to make informed
recommendations about crossing improvements. You can obtain more information about this study at
the FHWA Office of Freight Management web site, here: http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/.
How are BTS customers using Border
Crossing/Entry Data?
A wide variety of organizations utilize the Border
Crossing/Entry Data, including government agencies (state, local, federal and
non-U.S.), private sector organizations, media, non-profit
organizations/associations, and academia. Government agencies include
metropolitan planning organizations, state Departments of Transportation,
economic development agencies, public health agencies, federal agencies
(including modal administrations within the U.S. Department of Transportation),
and others. Private sector organizations include manufacturing firms,
transportation service providers, marketing organizations, consulting groups
etc. These different customer segments use the dataset for a wide variety of
purposes, including transportation planning, port studies, travel analyses,
corridor assessments, and other purposes. In many cases, these data are used
in conjunction with other trade and travel data sources.
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