Transport

The transport sector plays a central role in a modern economy. Mobility of goods (raw materials, semi-manufactured and finished products) and people (e.g. apprentices, employees, travellers, consumers) is required in the first place for the division of labour to function and for value added to be created in all economic sectors. In the context of the increase in international trading of goods and services, the importance of the transport sector is growing. Statistical information on the transport situation provides an important basis for entrepreneurial decisions and transport policies.

What is shown here for the various modes of transport is data on the transport infrastructure and on the means of transport. For passenger and goods transport, the volume of transport and transport services are shown. The surveys in goods transport are based on the Goods Classification for Transport Statistics, covering 175 headings. For spatial transport interlinkages, the Regional Index for Transport Statistics is used. The main traffic relations are national transport, international transport (incoming or outgoing) and transit. The units of measurement for transport services in passenger transport are the number of trips made (passengers carried) and the transport performance measured in passenger-kilometres (pkm) (product of number of trips and distance travelled). Units of measurement in goods transport are the quantity of goods carried in tonnes and the transport performance measured in tonne-kilometres (tkm) (product of the quantity of goods carried and distance travelled).
There are separate statistics for the modes of transport of road, railway, inland waterways, and sea transport. The statistics of public road passenger transport are supplied by the Federal Statistical Office, as are the statistics of goods and passenger transport by rail and air, the statistics of goods transport by inland waterways and by sea as well as the statistics of crude oil transport in pipelines. Private motorised transport, including taxi and hired-car transport, is estimated by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW). The goods transport services performed by national lorries are directly covered and published by the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) and by the Federal Office for Goods Transport (BAG); since reporting year 1994 this has been based on a sample survey. Also, the Federal Motor Transport Authority produces statistics such as on the stock and new registrations of motor vehicles. Statistics of the Federal Statistical Office not referring to transport itself but to its negative consequences are the various statistics of traffic accidents, especially the statistics on road traffic accidents in a detailed breakdown.