MOTUS Data: Read the Authority Record Behind the Carrier

Choose the operational file, not the familiar archive

FMCSA’s Open Data Program separates current MOTUS operating-authority datasets from legacy historical archives. Its modern catalog includes Carrier, Insur, InsHist, AuthHist, BOC3 and RevokeSuspend. Select the file by the question: an entity profile, a policy, an authority action and a process-agent assignment describe different objects.

Keep the dataset identifier and schema with the imported result. “FMCSA data” is too broad to diagnose a stale authority display. Ask the provider which operational file supplies the field, when it was published and when that version was imported.

Sources: FMCSA Open Data Program

One carrier can have several authority rows

The Motus Carrier metadata warns that USDOT and docket values can repeat. One USDOT can have multiple docket numbers; legacy registration also permitted multiple authorities per docket. The modern fields separate operating-authority type from operating-authority status.

Do not keep an arbitrary first row per USDOT number. For an illustrative entity with both a carrier authority and a broker authority, a status attached to one authority does not establish the status of the other. Preserve the authority type, docket and status together, then identify which operation the proposed shipment requires.

For an integration, test a multi-row entity before accepting the import. Confirm that the displayed conclusion names the authority examined and that another row cannot silently replace it. Treat an undocumented status code as unresolved rather than mapping every unfamiliar value to inactive.

Sources: DOT DataHub: Motus Carrier schema and coverage

A daily difference is not a fresh list of everyone

The Motus Carrier daily-difference dataset contains changes, rather than a complete replacement population. A carrier absent from today’s difference file has not thereby disappeared from the registry. Rebuilding a current table from that file alone would discard unchanged entities.

Use a documented baseline-and-update procedure. Retain each imported batch, detect missed batches, and reconcile with the appropriate full dataset after a gap. Replaying an already applied batch should not duplicate authorities or generate another business alert.

Sources: DOT DataHub: Motus Carrier daily differences

Read insurance amounts and removals using the file’s rules

The Motus Insur schema describes maximum and underlying liability amounts in thousands. In a purely illustrative row, a value of 750 in a field defined that way represents $750,000. Preserve the raw value and unit so a display cannot accidentally report $750 or multiply an already converted amount twice.

FMCSA also documents a specific removal signal in the Insur difference feed: blank strings in non-key fields can indicate cancellations or coverage drops. A generic importer that discards blank values may leave obsolete policy data on screen. This rule belongs to that feed; it is not permission to treat every empty field in every dataset as a deletion.

Sources: DOT DataHub: Motus Insur schema and coverage; FMCSA Open Data Program

Bring the import question back to the load

When a vendor’s result conflicts with the current official record, preserve both observations and their dates. Identify whether the disagreement concerns entity identity, authority type, an effective date or the import itself. Send that specific discrepancy to the person responsible for resolving it.

These checks describe how to evaluate an integration; they do not certify any vendor’s implementation. A successful import establishes that a process ran. Approval requires the relevant evidence, a review of unresolved differences and a decision under the brokerage’s policy.