North American Transportation Statistics - November 2012

BTS Releases North American Transportation Statistics

BTS 52-12
Wednesday, November 14, 2012

BTS Releases North American Transportation Statistics; 

Almost 93 Million Personal Vehicles Entered the United States in 2011 

Almost 93 million personal vehicles entered the United States in 2011, 31.6 million from Canada, and 61.2 million from Mexico, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ (BTS). Additionally, 10.4 million trucks, 322 thousand buses, and 35 thousandtrains entered the United States last year. 

BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, released the data as part of the eighth annual update of the North American Transportation Statistics (NATS) online database. A product of the North American Transportation Statistics Interchange established in 1991, the NATS online database contains the most comparable transportation-related data available from the United States, Canada, and Mexico in a one-stop online resource. 

The database covers the following subject areas: demographics, transportation, the economy, transportation safety, transportation’s impact on energy and the environment, domestic and international freight activity, domestic and international passenger travel, transportation infrastructure, and vehicles. The NATS online database is co-sponsored by BTS and the U.S. Census Bureau with the federal-level transportation and statistical agencies of Canada and Mexico.

 The NATS online database includes data on U.S. trade and transportation with Canada and Mexico. In 2011, goods valued at more than $1.06 trillion crossed the U.S. border in trade with Canada and Mexico, 15 percent higher than in 2010, and 44 percent higher than 2009.The economic recovery from the recent global economic downturn has shown different effects on freight shipment between the United States, Canada and Mexico. The total trade between the United States and Mexico experienced a 17 percent decrease in 2009 over 2008, but recovered quickly, and in 2011 and reached its highest level ($461 billion) since 2006. After experiencing a 40 percent decrease in 2009, the total trade between the United States and Canada also recovered and had an 12 percent increase in 2011 from 2010.

 See North American Transportation Statistics press release for summary tables and additional data. Text is available in English, French, and Spanish at the NATS online database.