Anerley is very well connected, with trains, buses and broadband all strong. There is a station in the middle of it and several more within reach. The buses come about every four minutes at the peak. Almost every home can get gigabit broadband. The price is that much of the area is noisy, because traffic and trains run right past the houses.
Anerley Rail Station is on the doorstep, and Penge West, Penge East, Birkbeck, Crystal Palace and Norwood Junction are all close by, so most addresses have more than one station to choose from. At the 2021 Census, 11% of working residents took the train to work and 10% took the bus. There are 98 bus stops in and around the area.
The biggest group at that census did not commute at all. About 45% of working residents worked from home, 19% drove, 5% walked and 2% cycled. About 44% of households have no car, and only 12% have more than one. With a station on the doorstep and buses on every main road, a car is optional here.
The Department for Transport's modelled journey times for the area put the nearest town centre about 8 minutes away by car, 10 by public transport, 9 by bike and 12 on foot. When walking takes only a few minutes longer than driving, owning a car stops making much sense.
The same Department for Transport statistics put a GP about 7 minutes away by car, 9 on foot and 9 by public transport. A food shop is about 4 minutes' walk away, or 6 minutes by car. A hospital is about 17 minutes by car and 35 by public transport, and the 64-minute walk is not a realistic option. The nearest big cluster of jobs is about 7 minutes by car, 5 by bike and 17 by public transport, but about 69 minutes on foot. These are averages modelled across the area, and the public transport times date from 2019, before later service changes, so they are the least reliable of the set. The car and walking times hold up much better.
The bus figures are current. Each stop averages 296 scheduled departures on a weekday and about 15 an hour at the morning and evening peaks, and every stop has a weekend service. That is a frequent, everyday bus service, the kind where nobody bothers with a timetable.
Gigabit-capable broadband reaches about 89% of the area and superfast 98%, and no address falls below the legal minimum for a usable connection. Every postcode gets 4G or 5G from at least one network, and close to every postcode gets it from all of them.
All that transport makes noise. About 68% of Anerley's postcodes are near or above 65 decibels of road noise, the level at which official noise mapping treats traffic as significant, and the loudest band present reaches 75 decibels. Rail noise is mapped separately, and about 51% of postcodes are near or above 65 decibels from trains, with a loudest band of 70. A house that backs onto the line hears it, so visit any property you are serious about during the morning peak. Isambard Kingdom Brunel ran an atmospheric railway through here in 1845, and it did not last long. The ordinary railway has stayed ever since, and so has its noise.
Anerley has 4 public charge points with 10 connectors between them, and none of them is rapid. Charging an electric car here is something you plan for. You cannot just top up while doing the shopping.
For a typical commute, that means a short walk to one of the stations, or a bus that arrives before you have finished looking for it. If you work from home most of the week, the broadband covers that. Anerley is very well connected. Rail, buses and broadband are all strong, and the main costs are noise from the roads and railway, plus no rapid charging for anyone driving electric.