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Appendix D
Legislation Establishing the Bureau
of Transportation Statistics
Title 49 > Subtitle I > Chapter 1 > § 111
§ 111. Bureau of Transportation Statistics
(a) Establishment.—There is established in the Research and Innovative
Technology Administration a Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
(b) Director.—
(1) Appointment.—The Bureau shall be headed by a Director who
shall be appointed in the competitive service by the Secretary of
Transportation.
(2) Qualifications.—The Director shall be appointed from among
individuals who are qualified to serve as the Director by virtue of
their training and experience in the collection, analysis, and use
of transportation statistics.
(c) Responsibilities.—The Director of the Bureau shall serve as the
Secretary’s senior advisor on data and statistics and shall be respon-
sible for carrying out the following duties:
(1) Providing data, statistics, and analysis to transportation
decision makers.—Ensuring that the statistics compiled under
paragraph (5) are designed to support transportation decision
making by the Federal Government, State and local governments,
metropolitan planning organizations, transportation-related asso-
ciations, the private sector (including the freight community),
and the public.
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(2) Coordinating collection of information.—Working with the
operating administrations of the Department to establish and
implement the Bureau’s data programs and to improve the
coordination of information collection efforts with other Federal
agencies.
(3) Data modernization.—Continually improving surveys and data
collection methods to improve the accuracy and utility of trans-
portation statistics.
(4) Encouraging data standardization.—Encouraging the standard-
ization of data, data collection methods, and data management
and storage technologies for data collected by the Bureau, the
operating administrations of the Department of Transportation,
States, local governments, metropolitan planning organizations,
and private sector entities.
(5) Transportation statistics.—Collecting, compiling, analyzing,
and publishing a comprehensive set of transportation statistics
on the performance and impacts of the national transportation
system, including statistics on—
(A) productivity in various parts of the transportation sector;
(B) traffic flows for all modes of transportation;
(C) other elements of the intermodal transportation database
established under subsection (e);
(D) travel times and measures of congestion;
(E) vehicle weights and other vehicle characteristics;
(F) demographic, economic, and other variables influencing
traveling behavior, including choice of transportation mode
and goods movement;
(G) transportation costs for passenger travel and goods movement;
(H) availability and use of mass transit (including the number
of passengers served by each mass transit authority) and
other forms of for-hire passenger travel;
(I) frequency of vehicle and transportation facility repairs and
other interruptions of transportation service;
(J) safety and security for travelers, vehicles, and transportation
systems;
(K) consequences of transportation for the human and natural
environment;
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Legislation Establishing the Bureau of Transportation Statistics 129
(L) the extent, connectivity, and condition of the transportation
system, building on the national transportation atlas data-
base developed under subsection (g); and
(M) transportation-related variables that influence the domestic
economy and global competitiveness.
(6) National spatial data infrastructure.—Building and disseminating
the transportation layer of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure
developed under Executive Order No. 12906, including coordinat-
ing the development of transportation geospatial data standards,
compiling intermodal geospatial data, and collecting geospatial
data that is not being collected by others.
(7) Issuing guidelines.—Issuing guidelines for the collection of
information by the Department required for statistics to be
compiled under paragraph (5) in order to ensure that such infor-
mation is accurate, reliable, relevant, and in a form that permits
systematic analysis.
(8) Review sources and reliability of statistics.—Reviewing and
reporting to the Secretary on the sources and reliability of the
statistics proposed by the heads of the operating administrations
of the Department to measure outputs and outcomes as required
by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (Public
Law 103–62; 107 Stat. 285), and the amendments made by such Act,
and carrying out such other reviews of the sources and reliability
of other data collected or statistical information published by
the heads of the operating administrations of the Department as
shall be requested by the Secretary.
(9) Making statistics accessible.—Making the statistics published
under this subsection readily accessible to the public.
(d) Information Needs Assessment.—
(1) In general.—Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment
of the SAFETEA–LU, the Secretary shall enter into an agree-
ment with the National Research Council to develop and publish
a National[1] transportation information needs assessment (referred
to in this subsection as the “assessment”). The assessment shall
be submitted to the Secretary and the appropriate committees
of Congress not later than 24 months after such agreement is
entered into.
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(2) Content.—The assessment shall—
(A) identify, in order of priority, the transportation data that is
not being collected by the Bureau, operating administrations
of the Department, or other Federal, State, or local entities,
but is needed to improve transportation decisionmaking at
the Federal, State, and local levels and to fulfill the require-
ments of subsection (c)(5);
(B) recommend whether the data identified in subparagraph
(A) should be collected by the Bureau, other parts of the
Department, or by other Federal, State, or local entities, and
whether any data is of a higher priority than data currently
being collected;
(C) identify any data the Bureau or other Federal, State, or local
entity is collecting that is not needed;
(D) describe new data collection methods (including changes
in surveys) and other changes the Bureau or other Federal,
State, or local entity should implement to improve the stan-
dardization, accuracy, and utility of transportation data and
statistics; and
(E) estimate the cost of implementing any recommendations.
(3) Consultation.—In developing the assessment, the National
Research Council shall consult with the Department’s Advisory
Council on Transportation Statistics and a representative cross-
section of transportation community stakeholders as well as
other Federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection
Agency, the Department of Energy, and the Department of
Housing and Urban Development.
(4) Report to congress.—Not later than 180 days after the date on
which the National Research Council submits the assessment
under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall submit a report to Con-
gress that describes—
(A) how the Department plans to fill the data gaps identified
under paragraph (2)(A);
(B) how the Department plans to stop collecting data identified
under paragraph (2)(C);
(C) how the Department plans to implement improved data
collection methods and other changes identified under
paragraph (2)(D);
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Legislation Establishing the Bureau of Transportation Statistics 131
(D) the expected costs of implementing subparagraphs (A), (B),
and (C) of this paragraph;
(E) any findings of the assessment under paragraph (1) with
which the Secretary disagrees, and why; and
(F) any proposed statutory changes needed to implement the
findings of the assessment under paragraph (1).
(e) Intermodal Transportation Database.—
(1) In general.—In consultation with the Under Secretary for Policy,
the Assistant Secretaries, and the heads of the operating admin-
istrations of the Department, the Director shall establish and
maintain a transportation database for all modes of transportation.
(2) Use.—The database shall be suitable for analyses carried out by
the Federal Government, the States, and metropolitan planning
organizations.
(3) Contents.—The database shall include—
(A) information on the volumes and patterns of movement
of goods, including local, interregional, and international
movement, by all modes of transportation and intermodal
combinations and by relevant classification;
(B) information on the volumes and patterns of movement
of people, including local, interregional, and international
movements, by all modes of transportation (including bicycle
and pedestrian modes) and intermodal combinations and
by relevant classification;
(C) information on the location and connectivity of transporta-
tion facilities and services; and
(D) a national accounting of expenditures and capital stocks on
each mode of transportation and intermodal combination.
(f ) National Transportation Library.—
(1) In general.—The Director shall establish and maintain a Nation-
al Transportation Library, which shall contain a collection of
statistical and other information needed for transportation deci-
sion making at the Federal, State, and local levels.
(2) Access.—The Director shall facilitate and promote access to
the Library, with the goal of improving the ability of the trans-
portation community to share information and the ability of
the Director to make statistics readily accessible under sub-
section (c)(9).
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(3) Coordination.—The Director shall work with other transportation
libraries and transportation information providers, both public
and private, to achieve the goal specified in paragraph (2).
( g) National Transportation Atlas Database.—
(1) In general.—The Director shall develop and maintain a national
transportation atlas database that is comprised of geospatial
databases that depict—
(A) transportation networks;
(B) flows of people, goods, vehicles, and craft over the networks;
and
(C) social, economic, and environmental conditions that affect
or are affected by the networks.
(2) Intermodal network analysis.—The databases shall be able to
support intermodal network analysis.
(h) Mandatory Response Authority for Freight Data Collection.—
Whoever, being the owner, official, agent, person in charge, or assistant
to the person in charge of any freight corporation, company, business,
institution, establishment, or organization of any nature whatsoever,
neglects or refuses, when requested by the Director or other autho-
rized officer, employee, or contractor of the Bureau, to answer com-
pletely and correctly to the best of the individual’s knowledge all
questions relating to the corporation, company, business, institution,
establishment, or other organization, or to make available records
or statistics in the individual’s official custody, contained in a data
collection request prepared and submitted under the authority of
subsection (c)(1), shall be fined not more than $500; but if the indi-
vidual willfully gives a false answer to such a question, the individual
shall be fined not more than $10,000.
(i) Research and Development Grants.—The Secretary may make grants
to, or enter into cooperative agreements or contracts with, public
and nonprofit private entities (including State transportation depart-
ments, metropolitan planning organizations, and institutions of higher
education) for—
(1) investigation of the subjects specified in subsection (c)(5) and
research and development of new methods of data collection,
standardization, management, integration, dissemination, inter-
pretation, and analysis;
(2) demonstration programs by States, local governments, and
metropolitan planning organizations to coordinate data collection,
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Legislation Establishing the Bureau of Transportation Statistics 133
reporting, management, storage, and archiving to simplify data
comparisons across jurisdictions;
(3) development of electronic clearinghouses of transportation data
and related information, as part of the National Transportation
Library under subsection (f ); and
(4) development and improvement of methods for sharing geographic
data, in support of the database under subsection (g) and the
National Spatial Data Infrastructure.
( j) Limitations on Statutory Construction.—Nothing in this section
shall be construed—
(1) to authorize the Bureau to require any other department or agency
to collect data; or
(2) to reduce the authority of any other officer of the Department to
collect and disseminate data independently.
(k) Prohibition on Certain Disclosures.—
(1) In general.—An officer, employee, or contractor of the Bureau
may not—
(A) make any disclosure in which the data provided by an indi-
vidual or organization under subsection (c) can be identified;
(B) use the information provided under subsection (c) for a
nonstatistical purpose; or
(C) permit anyone other than an individual authorized by the
Director to examine any individual report provided under
subsection (c).
(2) Copies of reports.—
(A) In general.—No department, bureau, agency, officer, or
employee of the United States (except the Director in car-
rying out this section) may require, for any reason, a copy of
any report that has been filed under subsection (c) with the
Bureau or retained by an individual respondent.
(B) Limitation on judicial proceedings.—A copy of a report
described in subparagraph (A) that has been retained by an
individual respondent or filed with the Bureau or any of its
employees, contractors, or agents—
(i) shall be immune from legal process; and
(ii) shall not, without the consent of the individual con-
cerned, be admitted as evidence or used for any purpose
in any action, suit, or other judicial or administrative
proceedings.
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(C) Applicability.—This paragraph shall apply only to reports
that permit information concerning an individual or orga-
nization to be reasonably determined by direct or indirect
means.
(3) Informing respondent of use of data.—In a case in which the
Bureau is authorized by statute to collect data or information for
a nonstatistical purpose, the Director shall clearly distinguish
the collection of the data or information, by rule and on the
collection instrument, so as to inform a respondent who is
requested or required to supply the data or information of the
nonstatistical purpose.
(l) Transportation Statistics Annual Report.—The Director shall
submit to the President and Congress a transportation statistics
annual report which shall include information on items referred to
in subsection (c)(5), documentation of methods used to obtain and
ensure the quality of the statistics presented in the report, and rec-
ommendations for improving transportation statistical information.
(m) Data Access.—The Director shall have access to transportation and
transportation-related information in the possession of any Federal
agency, except information—
(1) the disclosure of which to another Federal agency is expressly
prohibited by law; or
(2) the disclosure of which the agency possessing the information
determines would significantly impair the discharge of authorities
and responsibilities which have been delegated to, or vested by
law, in such agency.
(n) Proceeds of Data Product Sales.—Notwithstanding section 3302 of
title 31, funds received by the Bureau from the sale of data products,
for necessary expenses incurred, may be credited to the Highway
Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) for the purpose of
reimbursing the Bureau for the expenses.
(o) Advisory Council on Transportation Statistics.—
(1) Establishment.—The Director shall establish an advisory council
on transportation statistics.
(2) Function.—The function of the advisory council established under
this subsection is to—
(A) advise the Director on the quality, reliability, consistency,
objectivity, and relevance of transportation statistics and
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Legislation Establishing the Bureau of Transportation Statistics 135
analyses collected, supported, or disseminated by the Bureau
and the Department;
(B) provide input to and review the report to Congress under
subsection (d)(4); and
(C) advise the Director on methods to encourage cooperation
and interoperability of transportation data collected by the
Bureau, the operating administrations of the Department,
States, local governments, metropolitan planning organiza-
tions, and private sector entities.
(3) Membership.—The advisory council established under this
subsection shall be composed of not fewer than 9 and not
more than 11 members appointed by the Director, who are not
officers or employees of the United States. Each member shall
have expertise in transportation data collection or analysis or
application; except that 1 member shall have expertise in eco-
nomics, 1 member shall have expertise in statistics, and 1 member
shall have experience in transportation safety. At least 1 member
shall be a senior official of a State department of transportation.
Members shall include representation of a cross-section of trans-
portation community stakeholders.
(4) Terms of appointment.—
(A) In general.—Except as provided in subparagraph (B), mem-
bers of the advisory council shall be appointed to staggered
terms not to exceed 3 years. A member may be renominated
for 1 additional 3-year term.
(B) Current members.—Members serving on the Advisory
Council on Transportation Statistics as of the date of enact-
ment of the SAFETEA–LU shall serve until the end of their
appointed terms.
(5) Applicability of federal advisory committee act.—The Federal
Advisory Committee Act shall apply to the advisory council estab-
lished under this subsection, except that section 14 of such Act
shall not apply.
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