49 U.S.C. § 111 : US Code - Section 111: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Search 49 U.S.C. § 111 : US Code - Section 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
responsible for carrying out the following duties:
(1) Providing data, statistics, and analysis to transportation
decisionmakers. - Ensuring that the statistics compiled under
paragraph (5) are designed to support transportation
decisionmaking by the Federal Government, State and local
governments, metropolitan planning organizations, transportation-
related associations, the private sector (including the freight
community), and the public.
(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
transportation statistics.
(4) Encouraging data standardization. - Encouraging the
standardization 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;
(L) the extent, connectivity, and condition of the
transportation system, building on the national transportation
atlas database 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 coordinating 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
information 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
agreement 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.
(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 requirements 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
standardization, 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 Congress 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);
(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
administrations 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
transportation 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
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)(9).
(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 authorized officer, employee, or contractor of
the Bureau, to answer completely 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 individual
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 departments, 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, interpretation, and analysis;
(2) demonstration programs by States, local governments, and
metropolitan planning organizations to coordinate data
collection, 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
individual 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 carrying
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
concerned, be admitted as evidence or used for any purpose in
any action, suit, or other judicial or administrative
proceedings.
(C) Applicability. - This paragraph shall apply only to
reports that permit information concerning an individual or
organization 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
recommendations 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 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 organizations,
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
economics, 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 transportation community stakeholders.
(4) Terms of appointment. -
(A) In general. - Except as provided in subparagraph (B),
members 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
enactment 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 established under this subsection, except that section 14
of such Act shall not apply.