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After registering a small gain in May, the Transportation Services Index (TSI) dropped in June. The index totaled 110, a 0.7 percent decrease compared with May and 1.9 percent decline compared with June 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Through 2007’s first six months, the TSI rose 0.1 percent, but in the second quarter, the index fell 0.6 percent compared with the same 2006 periods.

June’s Freight TSI totaled 108.9, a 0.7 percent decline compared with May, and the index’s lowest level since February and largest decrease since November 2006. The Freight TSI also dropped 3.4 percent compared with June 2006 — the largest June-over-June decline in the index’s 17-year history.

Through six months, the Freight TSI remained flat compared with first-half 2006 — the first time since 2003 the index failed to increase compared with the preceding year’s first half. In the second quarter, the index dropped 0.8 percent.

Meanwhile, the Passenger TSI in June totaled 114.7, a 0.7 percent decrease compared with May and the index’s first decline after three-straight monthly gains. However, the index rose 3.2 percent compared with June 2006.

Through six months, the Passenger TSI increased 0.4 percent compared with the same 2006 period. In the second quarter, the index — which has posted gains in all but two quarters the past four years — increased 0.1 percent.

The TSI is a measure of month-to-month changes in the output of services provided by for-hire transportation industries, including rail, air, truck, inland waterways, pipelines and local transit.