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Transportation Statistics Annual Report
Overview
The Transportation Statistics Annual Report (TSAR) provides an overview of U.S. transportation issues. Each TSAR has two essential components: a review of the state of transportation statistics with recommendations for improvements and a presentation of the data and with analysis of many aspects of the transportation system: how the system is used, how well it works, how it affects people and the economy, and how it relates to energy use and environmental impacts. TSAR is a Congressionally mandated publication with wide
distribution.
As an annual publication, TSAR has been redesigned every few years. Early issues covered a wide range of transportation topics and in some of those years, a particular issue was covered in depth in a special theme section. Thus, TSAR 1995 has a section concentrating on the economic performance of transportation, while TSAR 1996 has an extensive chapter on energy and environment aspects of transportation. TSAR 1997 focuses on mobility and access; TSAR 1998, on long-distance travel and freight. TSARs for 1999 and 2000 do not include a special theme but maintain full chapters devoted to the transportation system's extent and condition, safety, mobility, energy and environment, economy, and national security. Starting with TSAR 2000, the annual report employed a more graphic-intensive format to allow readers to find areas of interest more easily and more quickly grasp the essence of an issue. Produced after the terrorist attacks on New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania in September 2001,
TSAR 2001 includes an extended chapter on national security issues related to transportation. Yet another format was introduced with the next TSAR, published in October 2003. In this TSAR all transportation data and analysis are captured in one Indicators chapter focused on 15 topics. Most of these topics were specified in the
Intermodal Surface Transportation Act of 1991, which authorized the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). The upcoming TSAR, to be published in 2004, will follow this same
format.
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