DOT 171-09
Friday, October 23, 2009
Office of Public Affairs
News Digest
Daylight Saving Time to End Sunday, Nov. 1, for Most Americans. Most of the nation will return to standard time at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 1, when clocks will be turned back one hour, providing an additional hour of daylight in the morning. Under law, daylight saving time is observed from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November, with the nation returning to daylight saving time starting Sunday, March 14, 2010. Prior to legislation that took effect in 2007, daylight saving time was observed from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. Federal law does not require any area to observe daylight time, but those that do must follow the starting and ending dates set by the law. No resetting of clocks is required for those parts of the country not observing daylight time: Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas. The U.S. Department of Transportation has overseen the time laws since 1966, when Congress transferred this responsibility from the Interstate Commerce Commission. Contact: Bill Mosley (202) 366-4570.
PHMSA Rulemaking to Require Hazmat Shippers to Provide Emergency Info. In a new final rulemaking published Oct. 19 in the Federal Register, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration will require shippers of hazardous materials to include their name or contract number on shipping papers. This rulemaking will preserve the effectiveness of first responders in obtaining accurate and timely emergency response information about the hazardous material as needed. The rulemaking can be found at: http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/hazmat/regs/rulemaking/final. Contact for media: Joe Delcambre (202) 493-0730.
BTS Adds Transit Ridership, Four Other New Tables to Key Transportation Indicators. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today expanded its Key Transportation Indicators with the addition of new tables on Transit Ridership, U.S. Airline Load Factor, U.S. Airline Passengers, U.S. Airline Revenue Passenger Miles, and Amtrak Ticket Prices and Yields. The new tables bring to 22 the total number of transportation indicators tracked by BTS. Indicators are drawn from BTS and other sources to provide timely, easily accessible information for the transportation community. BTS also updated the following tables as part of the Key Transportation Indicators update: Air Travel Price Index; Amtrak Revenue Passenger Miles; Amtrak Ridership; Domestic Airline Jet Fuel Prices; Highway Retail Diesel Prices; Highway Retail Gasoline Prices; Inland Waterway Commercial Vessel and Tow Delay; U.S. Major Air Carriers On-Time Performance; Personal Spending on Transportation; Rail Fuel Price; Rail Revenue Ton-Miles; Transportation Employment; Transportation Services Index; and U.S. Surface Trade U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico. Key Transportation Indicators are available at: http://www.bts.gov/publications/key_transportation_indicators/october_2009/index.html
Contact: Dave Smallen (202) 366-5568.
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