Bureau of Transportation Statistics
part of the United States Department of Transportation
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), part of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), is a government office that compiles, analyzes, and publishes information on the nation's transportation systems across various modes; and strives to improve the DOT's statistical programs through research and the development of guidelines for data collection and analysis.
BTS is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system.
History
BTS was officially created by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), passed on December 18, 1991, subsequently beginning operations as a modal administration with the USDOT on October 19, 1992. In 1995, BTS absorbed the former Civil Aeronautics Board's financial and operating statistics office, incorporating it as its Office of Airline Information. BTS gained the National Transportation Library in 1998, a stipulation of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). Following a Congressionally-directed reorganization of the Department in 2005, BTS ceased being an independent agency and was moved under the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA). The BTS director went from being a Senate-confirmed, presidentially-nominated position to being a civil service appointee named by the Secretary of Transportation.
BTS was moved again in 2015, as required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, and was shifted, along with the rest of RITA, to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Research and Technology.
Directors
Since its establishment, BTS has had four directors:
T. R. Lakshmanan, 1994–1998
Ashish Sen, 1998–2002
Richard Kowalewski (acting), 2002–2006
Steven Dillingham, 2006–2011
Patricia S. Hu, 2011–2025
Rolf Schmitt (acting), 2025–2026
Offices
BTS is divided into seven offices:
Office of Statistical and Economic Analysis
Office of Data Development and Standards
Office of Transportation Analysis
Office of Spatial Analysis and Visualization
Office of Airline Information
Office of Information and Library Sciences
Office of Safety Data and Analysis
Services
Data catalogs
Users can access and explore BTS's collection of intermodal transportation databases through TranStats and the BTS Data Inventory; the latter also allows users to create their own visualizations from selected BTS data.
Office of Airline Information
BTS' Office of Airline Information is responsible for publishing regular reports—often monthly or quarterly—on airline performance in the United States.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Bureau of Transportation Statistics” is part of the United States Department of Transportation. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Bureau, Transportation and Statistics, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “part of the United States Department of Transportation” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4998432. VIAF identifies the subject as 141009022. The Library of Congress control number is no93027090. 1 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1991, 1992, 1995 and 1998.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Bureau of Transportation Statistics”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Bureau of Transportation Statistics primary sources, Bureau of Transportation Statistics archive and Bureau research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Bureau of Transportation Statistics”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Bureau of Transportation Statistics” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.