BTS New Pocket Guide to Transportation Shows Increasing Airline Passenger Screenings

Contact BTS 6-02 David Smallen 202-366-5568

Monday, April 8, 2002 -- The U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released a new edition of the Pocket Guide to Transportation showing that 1.8 billion people went through airport screening in 2000. This is 43 percent more than in 1995, when 1.3 billion people were screened, indicating the growing demand on the screener workforce.

By contrast, at the start of the era of airline deregulation in 1980, 585 million people were screened. These figures include multiple screenings of the same passenger, as well as of non-passengers prior to the time when access to gate areas was restricted to passengers.

The Pocket Guide to Transportation is a compact report that gives users easy access to important information about the nation's transportation system.

Dr. Ashish Sen, BTS Director, said, "This small publication contains useful and easy-to-use data and information about the transportation system."

BTS' Pocket Guide provides the public and private sectors with easy access to transportation system information that will be used to make improved transportation decisions for the future.

The Pocket Guide is divided into five sections and a glossary that cover the extent and use of the transportation system and its impacts on safety and security, mobility, the economy, energy use, and the environment. Much of the information is based on data from the Bureau's publications, National Transportation Statistics 2001 and Transportation Statistics Annual Report 2001. BTS will release these publications within the next few months.

To order free copies of the Pocket Guide to Transportation, visit www.bts.gov, call 202-366-DATA (press 1), fax 202-366-3197, or write to Product Orders, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation, Room 7412, 400 Seventh Street. S.W., Washington, DC 20590.

A web version of the Pocket Guide will be available at www.bts.gov in May.