United States Code

49 U.S.C. § 111. Bureau of Transportation Statistics

(a) & (b) - deleted

(c) Responsibilities.— The Director of the Bureau shall be responsible for carrying out the following duties:

(1) Compiling transportation statistics.— Compiling, analyzing, and publishing a comprehensive set of transportation statistics to provide timely summaries and totals (including industrywide aggregates and multiyear averages) of transportation-related information. Such statistics shall be suitable for conducting cost-benefit studies (including comparisons among individual transportation modes and intermodal transport systems) and shall include information on—

(A) productivity in various parts of the transportation sector;

(B) traffic flows;

(C) travel times;

(D) vehicle weights;

(E) variables influencing traveling behavior, including choice of transportation mode;

(F) travel costs of intracity commuting and intercity trips;

(G) availability of mass transit and the number of passengers served by each mass transit authority;

(H) frequency of vehicle and transportation facility repairs and other interruptions of transportation service;

(I) accidents;

(J) collateral damage to the human and natural environment;

(K) the condition of the transportation system; and

(L) transportation-related variables that influence global competitiveness.

(2) Implementing long-term data collection program.— Establishing and implementing, in cooperation with the modal administrators, the States, and other Federal officials a comprehensive, long-term program for the collection and analysis of data relating to the performance of the transportation systems of the United States. Such program shall—

(A) be coordinated with efforts to measure outputs and outcomes of the Department of Transportation and the transportation systems of the United States under the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (107 Stat. 285 et seq.) and the amendments made by such Act;

(B) ensure that data is collected under this subsection in a manner which will maximize the ability to compare data from different regions and for different time periods; and

(C) ensure that data collected under this subsection is controlled for accuracy, made relevant to the States and metropolitan planning organizations, and disseminated to the States and other interested parties.

(3) Issuing guidelines.— Issuing guidelines for the collection of information by the Department of Transportation required for statistics to be compiled under paragraph (1) in order to ensure that such information is accurate, reliable, relevant, and in a form that permits systematic analysis. The Bureau shall review and report to the Secretary of Transportation 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, and the amendments made by such Act, and shall carry out such other reviews of the sources and reliability of other data collected by the heads of the operating administrations of the Department as shall be requested by the Secretary.

(4) Coordinating collection of information.— Coordinating the collection of information by the Department of Transportation required for statistics to be compiled under paragraph (1) with related information-gathering activities conducted by other Federal departments and agencies and collecting appropriate data not elsewhere gathered.

(5) Making statistics accessible.— Making the statistics published under this subsection readily accessible.

(6) Identifying information needs.— Identifying information that is needed under paragraph (1) but which is not being collected, reviewing such needs at least annually with the Advisory Council on Transportation Statistics, and making recommendations to appropriate Department of Transportation research officials concerning extramural and intramural research programs to provide such information.

(7) Supporting transportation decisionmaking.— Ensuring that the statistics compiled under paragraph (1) are relevant for transportation decisionmaking by the Federal Government, State and local governments, transportation-related associations, private businesses, and consumers.

(d) Intermodal Transportation Data Base.—

(1) In general.— In consultation with the Associate Deputy Secretary, the Assistant Secretaries, and the heads of the operating administrations of the Department of Transportation, the Director shall establish and maintain a transportation data base for all modes of transportation.

(2) Use.— The data base shall be suitable for analyses carried out by the Federal Government, the States, and metropolitan planning organizations.

(3) Contents.— The data base 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 transportation facilities and services; and

(D) a national accounting of expenditures and capital stocks on each mode of transportation and intermodal combination.

(e) National Transportation Library.—

(1) In general.— The Director shall establish and maintain a National Transportation Library, which shall contain a collection of statistical and other information needed for transportation decisionmaking 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 transportation community to share information and the ability of the Director to make statistics readily accessible under subsection (c)(5).

(3) Coordination.— The Director shall work with other transportation libraries and other transportation information providers, both public and private, to achieve the goal specified in paragraph (2).

(f) National Transportation Atlas Data Base.—

(1) In general.— The Director shall develop and maintain geospatial data bases 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 data bases shall be able to support intermodal network analysis.

(g) Research and Development Grants.—

(1) In general.— The Secretary may make grants to, or enter into cooperative agreements or contracts with, public and nonprofit private entities (including State transportation departments, metropolitan planning organizations, and institutions of higher education) for—

(A) investigation of the subjects specified in subsection (c)(1) and research and development of new methods of data collection, management, integration, dissemination, interpretation, and analysis;

(B) development of electronic clearinghouses of transportation data and related information, as part of the National Transportation Library under subsection (e); and

(C) development and improvement of methods for sharing geographic data, in support of the national transportation atlas data base under subsection (f) and the National Spatial Data Infrastructure developed under Executive Order No. 12906.

(2) Limitation.— Not more than $500,000 of the amounts made available to carry out this section in a fiscal year may be used to carry out this subsection.

(h) 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 of Transportation to collect and disseminate data independently.

(i) Prohibition on Certain Disclosures.—

(1) In general.— An officer or employee of the Bureau may not—

(A) make any disclosure in which the data provided by an individual or organization under subsection (c)(2) can be identified;

(B) use the information provided under subsection (c)(2) 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).

(2) Prohibition on requests for certain data.—

(A) Government agencies.— No department, bureau, agency, officer, or employee of the United States (except the Director in carrying out this section) may require, for any reason, a copy of any report that has been filed under subsection (c)(2) with the Bureau or retained by an individual respondent.

(B) Courts.— Any 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 concerned, be admitted as evidence or used for any purpose in any action, suit, or other judicial or administrative proceeding.

(C) Applicability.— This paragraph shall apply only to reports that permit information concerning an individual or organization to be reasonably inferred by direct or indirect means.

(3) Data collected for nonstatistical purposes.— 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 that is requested or required to supply the data or information of the nonstatistical purpose.

(j) Transportation Statistics Annual Report.— The Director shall transmit to the President and Congress a Transportation Statistics Annual Report which shall include information on items referred to in subsection (c)(1), documentation of methods used to obtain and ensure the quality of the statistics presented in the report, and recommendations for improving transportation statistical information.

(k) Proceeds of Data Product Sales.— Notwithstanding section 3302 of title 31, United States Code, 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.