BTS Resurrects VIUS Survey for Truckers

Upcoming Vehicle Survey Will Be First Since 2002

Later this month, you may find a survey in your mailbox from an unlikely source: BTS.

No, not that BTS! Rather, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) is sending its first Vehicle Inventory and Use Survey (VIUS) to commercial vehicle owners in nearly 20 years.

The goal of resurrecting the survey, which was abandoned in 2002, is to “gain an understanding nationally and statewide on how trucks are being utilized for various goods transport,” according to BTS’s announcement. The survey will apply to vehicles owned in 2021 and cover a broad range of vehicle characteristics, including:

• safety features;
• miles travelled;
• axel configuration;
• operating weight;
• fuel types;
• after-market modifications;
• goods carried; and
• maintenance records.

VIUS surveys are expected to go out to approximately 150,000 owners of Class 1-8 trucks at the end of February. Those with lower class numbers will receive the Light Vehicle Questionnaire, while owners of higher-class numbers will get the Heavy Vehicle Questionnaire.

“The 2021 VIUS will address the significant gap in information about our nation’s vehicle population,” according to BTS. “It will once again serve as the principal data source on the physical and operational characteristics of America’s vehicle population.”

The data is expected to be released in the fall of 2023.