U.S. AND CANADIAN STATISTICAL SOURCES FOR TRANSBORDER TRUCKING INFORMATION

The goal of this paper is to examine and appraise the major sources of information upon which policymakers, researchers and carriers can make decisions regarding the economic, financial, and operating environments of the transborder trucking industry. An improved information environment will lead to better decisions and facilitate the economic coordination and integration sought in the market through free trade. The authors focus on two major information areas: traffic flow and financial/operating statistics. In their conclusion, the authors find that a few of the existing U.S. and Canadian statistical data sources can be used for transborder trucking analyses, even though they were not designed for that purpose. Few of the databases contain any information on the performance of transborder trucking as perceived by the users of transportation. They feel that in the future, there must be greater international cooperation in the design of statistical data collection systems between the U.S. and Canada. Presently, one cannot track the behaviour of particular carriers across the border. In the U.S., company reports are not available through Canadian agencies. On the Canadian side of the border, detailed and data-rich carrier-based surveys are carried out but there is no comparable activity on the U.S. side. For the covering abstract of the Conference, see IRRD Abstract No. 807771.