The Passenger TSI fell 0.1% in December from November, falling for the second consecutive month. From December 2024 to December 2025 the index fell 0.2%. The passenger TSI measures passenger transportation volumes on local transit, intercity rail, and air transportation. The Combined Freight and Passenger Index fell by 0.4% in December from November and rose by 0.2% from December 2024 to December 2025.

Analysis: The Freight TSI decreased in December due to decreases in air freight, rail carloads, and pipeline while rail intermodal, trucking, and water volumes increased.

The passenger index decreased in December due to decreases in transit while air passenger, and rail passenger increased volumes. The Passenger TSI was 8.0% below the all-time high in January 2020. 

The table below shows Freight TSI and its changes in the context of other important monthly economic indicators. The table shows seasonally adjusted indicators unless noted. Several of the other economic indicators were not available due to the lapse in Federal appropriations.

The Freight TSI in Comparison to Other Economic Indicators 

BTS estimates air freight and air passenger one month ahead of reported data (i.e., the pipeline and air data are available through November, BTS estimates the December air freight and air passenger in the December index). Due to data unavailability, BTS estimated two months of pipeline petroleum and one month of waterborne data and relied upon the Energy Information Administration’s Short Term Energy Outlook for two months of natural gas data in this release.

Revisions: Monthly data has changed from previous releases due to the use of concurrent seasonal analysis, which results in seasonal analysis factors changing as each month’s data are added. BTS revised the November freight index to 138.6 from 138.5 in last month's release and the November passenger index to 126.2 from 127.2.

BTS scheduled the release of the January 2026 index for March 11th.
 
See Seasonally-Adjusted Transportation Data for historical data from 2000 to the present and numbers for individual modes. The TSI and modal data also can be found on the FRED database. See Transportation as an Economic Indicator: Transportation Services Index for charts and discussion about the TSI and its relationship to the economy. The BTS report, Transportation Services Index and the Economy, provides a detailed explanation about the relationship between the TSI and economic cycles. 

Looking for tables? BTS moved all tables online to streamline the monthly release. 

Brief Explanation of the TSI

The TSI measures the month-to-month changes in the output of services provided by the for-hire transportation industries. The freight index measure changes in freight shipments while the passenger index measures changes in passenger travel. 

The TSI tells us how the output of transportation services increased or decreased from month to month. The index can be examined together with other economic indicators to produce a better understanding of the current and future course of the economy. The movement of the index over time can be compared with other economic measures to understand the relationship of changes in transportation output to changes in Gross Domestic Product.
    
The freight transportation index consists of:

• For-hire trucking,
• Railroad freight services (including rail based intermodal shipments such as containers on flat cars),
• Inland waterways transportation,
• Pipeline transportation (including principally petroleum and petroleum products and natural gas), and
• Air freight.

The index does not include international or coastal waterborne movements, private trucking, courier services, or the US Postal Service.
  
The passenger transportation index consists of:

• Local transit, 
• Intercity passenger rail, and 
• Passenger air transportation. 

The index does not include intercity bus, sightseeing services, ferry services, taxi service, private automobile usage, or bicycling and other non-motorized transportation. 

The TSI includes only domestic "for-hire" freight and passenger transportation. For-hire transportation consists of freight or passenger transport services provided by a firm to external customers for a fee. The TSI does not include taxi services, paid ride services in personal motor vehicles (e.g., Uber, Lyft, etc.), intercity bus services, in-house transportation (vehicles owned and operated by private firms for their own use), or noncommercial passenger travel (e.g., trips in the household car). 

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