# Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) The principal federal statistical agency for transportation, inside the [[Department of Transportation]], established at 49 U.S.C. § 6302. Produces the Commodity Flow Survey, airline on-time and financial data, freight statistics, and the Transportation Statistics Annual Report; also runs the National Transportation Library. Structurally the outlier of the thirteen: § 6302 directs that the director be appointed **in the competitive service** by the Secretary, from among individuals qualified in the collection, analysis and use of transportation statistics. It is the only principal statistical agency whose head Congress made a career civil servant by statute. ## See also - [[Federal Statistical System Tree]] · [[Federal Workforce Structure Tree]]