U.S. Airlines

September 30, 2011 — The Editors

miles and operating revenue

The graphic to the right presents both passenger miles of travel provided by U.S. airlines between 1990 and 2008 and operating revenues in those years. The picture this graph presents is a pleasant one with both measures rising pretty steadily over the period shown, with the notable exception of 2001 and the 2002, the years for which the terroroist attacks of 2001 had the greatest impact on air travel. However, the airline business is a complicated business. As it turns out, over this same 19 year period, the industry as a whole suffered cumulative losses of $45.3 billion.

Today’s market size is the operating revenue earned by Airlines in 2008, a year in which the industry had losses of $23 billion. Running an airline is a complicated business to be sure.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2008
Market size: $186.12 billion
Source: “Table 1073. U.S. Scheduled Ariline Industry — Summary: 1995 to 2009,” page 677, Statistical Abstract of the United States 2012, and earlier editions. A PDF of page 677 of the work is available here. “Table 1-37: U.S. Passenger-Miles (Millions),” from the national transportation statistics available here.
Original source: U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Census Bureau
Posted on September 30, 2011

Posted in Aircraft, All Transport Vehicles, Travel. No Comments »

Air Travel Globally

September 16, 2011 — The Editors

Despite the dramatic declines in air travel that following the terrorist attacks in 2001 for several years, over the last decades humans have been flying more and more. Worldwide, approximately 513 million passangers traveled by air in 1991 and by 2007 that figure had quadrupled, reaching 2,076 million.

Today’s market size is the value of the global airline business in 2007 and a forecast of the value in the year 2012. What is not evident from these revenue based figures is the fact that airlines, despite their growth, have not added up to a profitable business sector. In fact, since degregulation in the United States in 1978, airlines as a whole have lost money.

Geographic reference: World
Year: forecast for 2007 and forecast for 2012
Market size: $430 billion and $711 billion respectively
Source: “The Global Airline Industry will reach a value of $711 billion in 2012, forecasts New Report,” a press release dated March 14, 2009 announcing the publication of a market report being offered through a web service called “Report Buyer.” The press release is available here. The original report is titled Airlines: Global Industry Guide.
Original source: Datamonitor
Posted on September 16, 2011

Posted in All Transport Vehicles, International Trade, Transportation, Travel. No Comments »

Bike Parking Racks

September 12, 2011 — The Editors

The current Transportation Commissioner in New York City, Janette Sadik-Khan, is working on increasing the ease with which people are able to use bicyles in that city, even encouraging people to use bikes as their commuter vehicles. While New York has a long way to go to reach the level of biker welcomeness found in other large, world cities it has made progress, doubling the number of bike paths to an estimated 500 miles since 2007. As biking becomes easier in the “Big Apple” the demand for more safe places to park bikes is expected to continue to rise.

Today’s market size is the estimated number of bike parking racks in place in New York City as of the summer of 2011.

Geographic reference: New York
Year: 2011
Market size: 12,800
Source: Frank Bruni, “Bicycle Visionary,” The New York Times, September 11, 2011, page SR1.
Original source: NYC Department of Transporation and Pucher, co-author of an upcoming book titled City Cycling.
Posted on September 12, 2011

Posted in All Transport Vehicles, Bikes, Mass Transit / Public Transportation Systems, Sporting Goods. No Comments »

Marinas

September 9, 2011 — The Editors

Those offering services to boaters by operating docking and/or storage facilities for pleasure craft owners are Marinas. Some marinas offer additional services such as repair and maintenance services as well as retailing of fuel and marine supplies. The states with the United States with the largest marina industries, in order, are Florida, New York, California, Michigan and Massachusetts.

Today’s market size is the estimated revenues from all marinas in the United States in 2009.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2009
Market size: $3.3 Billion
Source: “Table 9.1. Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation Services (NAICS 71) — Estimated Revenue for Employer Firms: 2001 Through 2009,” Service Annual Survey: 2010,, the report on NAICS Sector 71 is available online here.
Original source: U.S. Censsus Bureau
Posted on September 9, 2011

Posted in All Transport Vehicles, Business Services, Entertainment, Repair Services, Ships. No Comments »

Auto Sales in August

September 2, 2011 — The Editors

The business pages of major papers all over the United States today are reporting on U.S. auto and light truck sales in August 2011. What is interesting is the fact that based on a commonly used reporting technique—namely to compare sales in one month with the sales in that month one year earlier—sales in August 2011 look very good. They were 7.5% more than sales of autos and light trucks in August 2010 and 1.2% greater than sales in July 2011. The trend is definitely positive.

However, in times of sudden economic slowdown, or times of recover after a precipitous decline these sorts of comparisons can be misleading. Daniel Gross put this situation very colorfully in a 2010 Slate article on the auto industry, saying “comparing August 2010 to August 2009 is a little like comparing today’s home run totals to those racked up in seasons when the sluggers were on steroids and the ball was juiced.” Worth noting is the fact that U.S. auto sales averaged 16 million units annually between 2000 and 2007. Based on sales through August of 2011, annual sales are estimated to reach 12.5 million for the year. The industry has been changed greatly by the last recession.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: August 2011
Market size: 1.07 million automobiles and light trucks
Source: Nick Bunkley, “Car Buyers Unfazed by Storms, Financial and Tropical, in August,” September 2, 2011, page B1, The New York Times, and Daniel Gross, “A Successful Turn,” September 2, 2010, Slate, available online here.
Original source MotorIntelligence.com
Posted on August 9, 2011

Posted in All Transport Vehicles, Cars. No Comments »

Auto Repair Services

August 16, 2011 — The Editors

Several of us here have had reason lately to make large payments to auto mechanics. This, combined with the level of business apparent at our various auto repair shops, lead us to wonder if businesses that do automotive repair and maintenance work were, perhaps recovering more quickly from the great recession than other businesses in the service sector.

The future looks bright for automotive repair shops as the median age of automobiles in the United States continues to climb. According to a study by R.L. Polk Company, the median age of automobiles on the road in the United States grew 44% between 1990 and 2008, from 6.5 years to 9.4 years. And these median age figures do not include the changes that resulted in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis which had a devastating impact on new vehicle sales. Demand for automotive repair will only increase as the age of the fleet increases.

Today’s market size is based on the estimated revenue of all automotive repair and maintenance firms in the U.S. in 2001 and 2010. Worth noting, these revenue figures are for firms defined by the source as “employer firms,” and thus do not include all those involved in doing repair work on their own or on the side.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2001 amd 2010
Market size: $76,518 million and $83,714 million respectively
Source: Yearbook 2010, “Table 10.1 Other Services (Except Public Administration, Religious, Labor, and Political Organizations, and Private Households) (NAICS 81) – Estimated Reveunue for Employer Firms: 2001 through 2009,” page 198, Survice Annual Survey 2009, issued in February 2011 and available online here. Preliminary data for 2010 are from early released reports from the Survice Annaul Survey 2010.
Original source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Census Bureau

Posted in All Transport Vehicles, Cars, Repair Services. 2 Comments »

Freight by Rail

August 9, 2011 — The Editors

Moving large volumes of freight over long distances is an energy intensive proposal and something we do very regularly these days. In fact, with the rise of globalization humanity is now moving more over greater distances than ever before. Moving cargo by rail is the second most efficient means of transporting it—the first being transport over water. Coal is the commodity whose movement on railroads accounts for the largest percentage of tonnage moved by Class I Railroad operators in the United States (44%) and the largest percentage of gross revenue, when divided out by commodity type, for these operators (24%).

Today’s market size is the tonnage carried by U.S. Class I Railroads in 2010 and the value of the corresponding gross revenue earned for their transportation. The revenue number does not adjust for such things as incentive rebates offered by the railroad operators. U.S. Class I Railroads in 2010 were the following: BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, Grand Trunk Corporation, Kansas City Southern Railway, Norfolk Southern Combined Railroad Subsidiaries, Soo Line Corporation, and Union Pacific Railroad.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2010
Market size: 1.85 billion tons and $57.44 billion in gross revenues
Source: “Class I Railroad Statistics,” June 17, 2011, a report produced by the Policy and Economics Department of the Association of American Railroads. Here is a link to the report.
Original source Association of American Railroads

Posted in All Transport Vehicles, Cargo, Coal, National Infrastructure, Trains, Transportation. No Comments »

Public Transportation in Detroit, Michigan

August 2, 2011 — The Editors

In 1945, public transportation in Detroit consisted of 22 street car lines. The last street car line stopped operation in April 1956. By 2010, public transportation in Detroit consisted of 48 bus routes serving Detroit and 22 surrounding communities. Data show the annual number of passengers that rode these forms of public transportation in the city.


Detroit is known as the home of the auto industry and as such has never been a strong proponent of mass transit. Furthermore, and worth noting in this context, is the fact that in 1945 the City of Detroit had a population of approximately 1,736,000 and in 2010 its population was less than half this number (715,000). Is the shrinking of this once major U.S. city in any way related to its lack of mass transit offerings? That is a question we can not answer in this brief little blog but it is food for thought.

Geographic reference: Detroit, Michigan
Year: 1945 and 2010
Market Size: Nearly 500 million and less than 40 million respectively
Source: Doug McInnis, “Talk of the Town: Midtown Detroit Undergoes an Economic Revival,” Wayne State, July 2011, pages 10-19; “DDOT FAQ’s,” available online here.
Original Source: 1945 data compiled by the late transit historian Jack Schramm.
Posted on August 2, 2011

Posted in All Transport Vehicles, Mass Transit / Public Transportation Systems. No Comments »

Bicycle Share Systems

July 25, 2011 — The Editors

“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.” — H.G. Wells

Bicycle sharing is a system in which bicycle stations are set up at various places around a city. Each station can have tens, hundreds, or thousands of bicycles for rent, depending on demand. Customers rent the bicycles by the hour or by the day and then return them to the nearest bicycle sharing station.

These bicycle sharing systems are currently much more popular in major European cities than they are in cities in the Americas. However, the United States outranks any other country when it comes to bicycle sharing systems on college and university campuses with 24 such systems nationwide. Mexico, Philippines, and the United Kingdom are the only other countries with bicycle sharing systems on college campuses, each having just one station. As of June 2011, Warsaw, Poland; Boston, Massachusetts; and Lansing, Michigan were in the planning stages of adding bicycle sharing systems to their cities. Eric Schertzing, organizer of the Lansing, Michigan effort, said “he envisions bike sharing to be most appealing to downtown employees and tourists, and possibly renters who don’t want to haul bicycles up and down apartment stairs.”

Geographic reference: World
Year: 2008, 2009, 2010
Market size: 92, 160, and 238 stations respectively
Source: “Selling Smart Bicycles: A Delicate Dance, Part 2,” viaCycle, May 26, 2011, available online here; Lindsay
VanHulle, “Ingham County Considering $100,000 Bike Sharing Service,” Lansing State Journal, June 23, 2011, available online here; “List of Bicycle Sharing Systems,” Wikipedia, available online here.
Posted on July 25, 2011

Posted in All Transport Vehicles, Bikes. 2 Comments »

“Green” Commuting

July 8, 2011 — The Editors

Ways to commute to work

Whenever we hear about the rising price of oil, most of us immediately worry about the increased cost for the gasoline we put in our vehicles to get us to and from work each day. But for some of us, this is not a worry. Although still a small percentage of the working population as a whole, increasing numbers of workers are choosing to bicycle or walk to work. And, some of us who are able are choosing to work from home, thereby not commuting at all. The data show the number of workers 16 years old and over who bicycle or walk to work and those that work from home. Numbers in parentheses represent the percentage of the working population as a whole.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2000 and 2009
Market size: Bicycle to worK — 566,384 (0.4%) and 831,551 (0.6%) respectively
Market size: Walk to work — 3,417,080 (2.7%) and 4,019,162 (2.9%) respectively
Market size: Work from home — 4,009,006 (3.2%) and 5,959,448 (4.3%) respectively
Source: American Community Survey, various dates, available online here.
Original Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Posted in All Transport Vehicles, Bikes, Travel. No Comments »
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