Read on Twitter
Let's take a quick trip to learn a little about the @USDOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics ( @TransportStats). This is a department @PeteButtigieg will love, being the stats and data #nerd he is.
BTS is the source for stats on commercial aviation, multimodal freight activity, and transportation economics. Its mission is to provides timely, accurate, credible information on the U.S. transportation system, the movement of people and goods, and the...
consequences of transportation for the economy, society and the environment. Founded in 1966, its mission was refined further in the early 1990s to ensure data gaps were addressed and that data collected by various departments was linked and could be easily disseminated.
Examples of the data BTS tracks:
Which US airport has best on-time arrival (ATL)
Average US airfare ($259)
# bikeshare docks in Chicago (612)
# rural airports in America (3886)
# ferries operate in Alaska (6)
Which US airport has best on-time arrival (ATL)Average US airfare ($259)# bikeshare docks in Chicago (612)# rural airports in America (3886)# ferries operate in Alaska (6)
Having accurate, timely and verifiable data will become more crucial than ever as the #BuildBackBetter plan will quickly launch and need to know where crucial needs are to triage immediate resources to.
One of the pandemic impacts on BTS was the need for faster data reporting. Preliminary estimates became important as the economic landscape for travel and shipping was changing fast.
One of the solutions was the introduction of BTS’s Week in Transportation web page and daily statistics reporting.
BTS also serves as a library for the entire transportation community, including state and local governments, private industry and the public. Some requests are for raw data, some for tables of data and some are looking for information in a field of transportation...
they aren’t expert in. BTS has the smallest budget of the principal federal statistical agencies, with a staff of about 60 people. The BTS Director is the senior advisor to the Secretary of Transportation on data and statistics.
As a designated principal federal statistical agency, BTS is required by the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (Pub. L. 115-435, Jan. 14, 2019) to “produce and disseminate relevant and timely statistical information; conduct credible and accurate...
statistical activities; conduct objective statistical activities; and protect the trust of information providers by ensuring the confidentiality and exclusive statistical use of their responses.”
Thank you @nerdypursuit for helping us all get up to speed and on board (the puns just write themselves) with Pete's new world. #LearnAboutDOT #TeamPete #PDXforPete
PS: And if you want to know about the other BTS, here's a great primer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BTS
