Freight Transportation Services Index increased 0.1 percent to 112.6 in April, up from 112.5 in March. That’s the fourth increase in the last six months, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The April 2005 level is 1.6 percent higher than the April 2004 level of 110.9.
The overall TSI, which combines freight and passenger transportation data, rose 0.1 percent in April to 111.7 from the March level of 111.6, which also was the fourth increase in the past six months. The April 2005 level was 2.8 percent higher than the overall April 2004 level of 108.7, and was 13.7 percent higher than the April level of the base year of 2000.
The index, which includes historic data from 1990 to the present, remains under development and is considered experimental. In this month’s index, BTS conducted its first revision to the TSI in which index numbers through December 2004 were revised to reflect revisions to the source data and changes in the estimated seasonal factors.
Also, beginning with the April 2005 index, the base year has been changed from 1996 to 2000, so the index now measures changes from the monthly average for the base year of 2000; previous indexes measured changes from the base year of 1996.
