By road, very well. By rail, less well. Addlestone has its own station, yet hardly anyone takes the train to work. Nearly half drive. A third don't commute at all. Home is the best-connected place in town, and the car comes second.
Addlestone Rail Station runs trains towards London, and Byfleet & New Haw, Weybridge and Chertsey stations are all close by. Even so, only 3% of working residents took the train to work at the 2021 Census. The town has 44 bus stops, and 1% of workers commuted by bus. The prototype of the Routemaster was built on Station Road, so the town that helped design London's best-known bus now barely uses buses at all.
Driving to work was the biggest single choice in 2021, at 48%. Working from home came next at 34%. Walking accounted for 7% and cycling 2%. Some 40% of households run more than one car, and 16% have none. Car-free households and two-car households live side by side here, and they spend their weekends in quite different places.
The Department for Transport's journey-time statistics are modelled averages for the area, dated 2019. They put the nearest town centre about 8 minutes away by car, 11 by public transport, 9 by bike and 12 on foot. A GP is about 7 minutes by car, 11 by public transport or 12 on foot. A food shop is about 7 minutes away walking or driving. A hospital takes about 14 minutes by car and 30 by public transport. A place of employment is 7 minutes by car, 14 by public transport and 52 on foot. The car and walking times hold up well, because the destinations haven't moved. The public transport times are the weakest of the set, since some services have been withdrawn since 2019. Few people would walk 52 minutes to work, which is why the driving figure is so high.
Bus stops in Addlestone see an average of about 30 scheduled departures each weekday and about two in the peak hour. Every stop with timetable data has some weekend service. A bus about every half hour at the busiest time of day is a usable service, but not one you can rely on without checking the timetable.
Gigabit broadband reaches 84% of premises, ultrafast 89% and superfast 97%. No premises fall below the legal minimum for a decent connection. The fibre goes almost everywhere the trains don't, so the third who work from home are well served.
Mobile coverage is complete: 4G or 5G from at least one operator reaches every postcode, and coverage from all operators reaches effectively every postcode as well.
Addlestone has four public charge points with six connectors between them. One of the six is rapid, so most drivers will plan their charging around that one connector. Ask about off-street parking and whether a home charger can be fitted at any property you view, because the public network here is small.
For a typical commute, the realistic choice is the car or not commuting at all. The station suits anyone working near a stop on the line, and buses are most useful for getting around town.
Road noise is the price of all that road access. Almost every postcode is close to the 65-decibel level at which official noise mapping treats road traffic as significant, and the loudest band reaches 75 decibels. Rail noise is a separate source and affects about 10% of postcodes, peaking at 65 decibels. Addlestone is easy to drive out of, and you can hear the roads that make it easy.
Addlestone is middling for connections: the roads and broadband are strong, the trains and buses are thin, and the result is a commuter town where most people drive or stay home.