Transit and errands is a family of source-native context observations. It explains what official transportation evidence says about commuting, vehicle access, and local mobility; it does not produce a single transit score.
Each source remains separate because its geographic unit, population, mode labels, and evidence period differ. These observations are display-only context and are not a substitute for a walkability audit or a guarantee of daily service.
What this context measures
Transit and errands keeps commuting behavior, household vehicle availability, and local mobility evidence distinct. Work-commute and pendular-trip observations describe the source population and trip type; they do not describe all trips, every retiree, or the quality of transit service.
Coverage differs by country. An available observation means that the source-backed row exists at its stated geography. A missing observation remains unavailable rather than being replaced with a national value, a nearby city, or an assumption.
Source grain and period
| Source family | Geographic grain | Evidence period | What it supports |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. ACS B08301 | Exact Census place or county subdivision | 2020–2024 ACS 5-year | Walking and public-transit shares among workers age 16 and older |
| U.S. ACS B25045 | Exact Census place or county subdivision | 2024 ACS 5-year | Area-level household vehicle availability by tenure |
| Portugal INE | Exact municipality | 2021 Censos | Pedestrian, individual-transport, and collective-transport pendular-trip shares |
| France INSEE | Published destination geography | 2021 commuting evidence | Commuting-mode evidence |
| Spain INE | Exact municipality | 2021 ECEPOV | Native walking, public, and private transportation modes |
| Italy Istat | Exact municipality | 2011 census | Native slow-commute and municipal census modes |
| Japan e-Stat | Exact municipality | 2020 census table 17-2 | Native transportation modes |
| Mexico INEGI | Exact municipality row in state workbook | 2020 census | Separate collective-commute modes where the destination row is available |
U.S. formulas and boundaries
For U.S. destinations, ACS 2024 five-year table B08301 supplies two display-only context rows:
B08301_E019 / B08301_E001 × 100 = workers whose principal means of transportation to work was walking ÷ all workers × 100
B08301_E010 / B08301_E001 × 100 = workers whose principal means of transportation to work was public transportation excluding taxicab ÷ all workers × 100
These are work-commute shares, not all trips, retiree behavior, walkability, healthcare access, or proof that someone can live without a car.
The older-household no-vehicle context uses the published B25045 cells:
100 × (B25045_006E + B25045_015E) / (B25045_006E + B25045_010E + B25045_015E + B25045_019E)
This is an area-level household vehicle-availability measure. It is not a measure of an individual’s ability to drive, walkability, transit access, or whether a household requires a car.
International source boundaries
Portugal keeps three official INE indicators separate: 0013345 pedestrian, 0013346 individual transport, and 0013347 collective transport. They describe resident employed people or students’ pendular travel and are not combined into a score.
Spain uses the 2021 ECEPOV table’s native Andando, Público, and Particular modes at the exact municipality. Italy uses exact municipal census evidence and native source labels. Japan uses 2020 census table 17-2 and keeps the native modes separate.
Mexico must not receive a family-wide source link. Every published Mexican destination must retain the exact state-workbook URL supporting that destination. Those workbook links remain separate destination-level entries and must not be replaced with a general landing page.
Missing evidence and valid zero
Missing evidence and an observed zero are different states. A valid source observation of zero remains zero. An unavailable row remains unavailable, and Retirement Lists does not convert missing evidence into zero, average, neutral context, or a threshold result.
Transit and errands observations remain display-only. They do not qualify a destination for a collection, ranking, filter, sort, Fit, Compare, or hard constraint.
Limitations
- Commute and pendular-trip evidence does not describe all trips or every retiree.
- Household vehicle availability does not describe an individual’s driving ability or daily car need.
- Source periods and geographic units differ across countries.
- Published observations do not guarantee transit frequency, coverage, accessibility, reliability, or a convenient route from a particular home.
- Local errands, roads, parking, weather, terrain, and current service changes are not inferred from these rows.
Sources and review
Last reviewed August 1, 2026
- U.S. Census Bureau: ACS 2024 table B08301
Means of transportation to work for U.S. destinations
- U.S. Census Bureau: ACS 2024 table B25045
Vehicles available by tenure for U.S. destinations; published B25045 cells may be cited when explaining the executable formula
- Statistics Portugal: indicator 0013345
Pedestrian pendular-trip share for Portuguese destinations
- Statistics Portugal: indicator 0013346
Individual-transport pendular-trip share for Portuguese destinations
- Statistics Portugal: indicator 0013347
Collective-transport pendular-trip share for Portuguese destinations
- INSEE: 2021 commuting table
Commuting-mode evidence for French destinations
- Statistics Spain: table 55377
Transportation and commuting evidence for Spanish destinations
- Istat: Ottomila Census
Family-level reference for Italian municipal census evidence; every published destination row must retain the exact municipality URL that supports it
- Statistics Japan: database view 0003454513
Transportation evidence for Japanese destinations