Glossary

Air carrier—Certificated provider of scheduled and nonscheduled services.

Chained dollars—A method to measure real changes in dollar values between years that uses chain-type indexes, rather than constant dollars. The method first calculates the real changes between adjacent years. Annual rates of real changes are then chained (multiplied) together to obtain the rate of real changes between nonadjacent years.

Class I railroad—A freight railroad with an annual gross operating revenue indexed to a base of $250 million in 1991 dollars. In 2004, the adjusted base had increased to $289.5 million.

Commercial waterway facilities—Waterway facilities as counted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are piers, wharves, and docks. Not included are those facilities used exclusively for recreational or active military craft and generally those providing nonmaritime use.

Commuter rail—Urban/suburban passenger train service for short-distance travel between a central city and adjacent suburbs run on tracks of a traditional railroad system. Does not include heavy- or light-rail transit service.

Congestion cost—Value of travel time delay (estimated at $13.45 per hour of person travel and $71.05 per hour of truck travel) and excess fuel consumption (estimated using the average cost per gallon by state).

Contracted service (purchased transportation)—Transportation service provided to a public transit agency or governmental unit from a public or private transportation provider based on a written contract.

Delay—The extra travel time (hours) spent traveling at congested speeds rather than free-flow speeds (60 mph on freeways and 35 mph on principal arterials) divided by the number of persons making a trip during the peak period (6:00 a.m.–9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.–7:00 p.m.).

Demand-response transit—A nonfixed-route, nonfixed-chedule form of transportation that operates in response to calls from passengers or their agents to the transit operator or dispatcher.

Directional route-miles—The sum of the mileage in each direction over which transit vehicles travel while in revenue service.

Directly operated service—Transportation service provided directly by a transit agency, using their employees to supply the necessary labor to operate the revenue vehicles.

Draft—The depth of water a vessel draws, loaded or unloaded.

General aviation—Civil aviation operations other than those air carriers holding a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. Types of aircraft used in general aviation range from corporate, multi-engine jets piloted by a professional crew to amateur-built, single-engine, piston-driven, acrobatic planes.

Gross Domestic Product—The total value of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States. As long as the labor and property are located in the United States, the suppliers may be either U.S. residents or residents of foreign countries.

Heavy-rail transit—High-speed transit rail operated on rights-of-way that exclude all other vehicles and pedestrians.

Hub area—As used here, a geographic area based on the percentage of total enplaned passengers in that area. A hub area can comprise more than one airport and falls into one of the following classes: large, a community enplaning 1% or more of the total enplaned passengers; medium, 0.25%–0.99%; small, 0.05%–0.24%; nonhub area, less than 0.05%. The definition of hub used here should not be confused with airline usage of the term to describe "hub-and-spoke" route structures or other definitions of hubs used by the Federal Aviation Administration, which focus on traffic at individual airports.

Intermodal—Transportation activities involving more than one mode of transportation, including transportation connections, choices, cooperation, and coordination of various modes.

Large certificated air carrier—Carriers operating aircraft with a maximum passenger capacity of more than 60 seats or a maximum payload of more than 18,000 pounds. These carriers are also grouped by annual operating revenues: 1) majors—more than $1 billion; 2) nationals—between $100 million and $1 billion; 3) large regionals—between $20 million and $99,999,999; and 4) medium regionals—less than $20 million.

Long-distance travel—As defined in the Bureau of Transportation Statistics National Household Travel Survey, long-distance trips are trips of 50 miles or more from home to the farthest destination traveled and include the return component as well as any overnight stops and stops to change transportation mode.

Light-rail transit—Urban transit rail operated on a reserved right-of-way that may be crossed by roads used by motor vehicles and pedestrians.

Light truck—Trucks of 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating or less, including pickup trucks, vans, truck-based station wagons, and sport utility vehicles.

Metric ton—A unit of weight equal to 2,204.6 pounds.

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)—NAICS (established in April 1997) replaces the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) and groups producing and nonproducing economic activities into 20 sectors and 1,170 industries in the United States version. It was developed to provide common industry definitions for Canada, Mexico, and the United States to facilitate analyses of the economies of the three countries.

Nonself-propelled vessels—Includes dry cargo, tank barges, and railroad car floats that operate in U.S. ports and waterways.

Particulates—Carbon particles formed by partial oxidation and reduction of hydrocarbon fuel. Also included are trace quantities of metal oxides and nitrides, originating from engine wear, component degradation, and inorganic fuel additives.

Passenger-mile—One passenger transported one mile. For example, one vehicle traveling 3 miles carrying 5 passengers generates 15 passenger-miles.

Self-propelled vessels—Includes dry cargo vessels, tankers, and offshore supply vessels, tugboats, pushboats, and passenger vessels, such as excursion/sightseeing boats, combination passenger and dry cargo vessels, and ferries.

Short-ton—A unit of weight equal to 2,000 pounds.

Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)—SIC (first used in 1937) groups establishments by primary activity to ease data collection, tabulation, presentation, and analysis. SIC was intended to promote greater uniformity and comparability in data presentations by government, industry, and research institutions. SIC classifies industries by composition and structure of the economy.

Ton-miles—A unit of measure equal to the movement of one ton over one mile.

Truck:

Single unit—A large truck on a single frame with at least 2 axles and 6 tires. Excludes "other 2-axle, 4-tire vehicles" noted above.
Combination—A power unit (truck or truck tractor) and one or more trailing units.

Vehicle-mile—One vehicle traveling one mile.