Aylesbury is well connected for drivers and home workers, and less so for anyone relying on its trains. There are three stations, and hardly anyone takes the train to work. Half drive. Nearly a third work from home. Gigabit broadband reaches most homes. The railway got the history and the router got the commuters.
Aylesbury, Aylesbury Vale Parkway and Stoke Mandeville stations all serve the town, on the line to London Marylebone, yet at the 2021 Census only 1% of working residents took the train to work and 2% the bus. The town has 455 bus stops. Between 1899 and 1953 Aylesbury had trains to four London termini, and today the commuters mostly use the ring road.
At that same census, 49% of working residents drove to work, 30% worked from home, 9% walked and 2% cycled. About 17% of households have no car, and 42% have two or more. The council built the Gemstone Cycleways out from the town centre to Stone, Bierton, Wendover and Watermead, and the cyclists are still not much more numerous than the train commuters.
The Department for Transport's modelled journey-time statistics put the nearest town centre about 11 minutes away by car, 14 by bike, 17 by public transport and 25 on foot, averaged across the town. Twenty-five minutes on foot is a long walk to the shops, and it explains a good deal of the driving.
Gigabit broadband reaches about 88% of premises and superfast 99%, and no premises fall below the government's minimum broadband standard. Mobile coverage is close to complete, with some 4G or 5G signal everywhere and every network available across about 98% of the town. For the 30% working from home, that is the connection that matters most.
The same Department for Transport statistics, modelled for 2019, put a GP about 9 minutes away by car, 13 by public transport and 16 on foot. A hospital is about 15 minutes by car and 28 by public transport, a food shop about 7 minutes either on foot or by car, and a major employment centre about 10 minutes by car and 12 by public transport. The car and walking times will have held up because the buildings have not moved, but the public transport times are the shakiest, since buses have been withdrawn in plenty of places since 2019.
The current timetables show an average of 34 weekday departures per stop and about 2 buses an hour at the peak, with 87% of stops getting some weekend service. That is a usable town bus network for getting around, and a long way from a reason to sell the car.
Road noise is everywhere in Aylesbury, with almost every postcode near or above 65 decibels, the level at which official noise mapping treats road traffic as significant, and the loudest band in the town reaches 75 decibels. Rail noise is a separate source, with about 94% of postcodes near the 65-decibel band and none above it. The government's noise map shows the bands for an exact street, and a house backing onto the ring road or the railway should be checked there first.
There are 17 public charge points in the town with 34 connectors between them, 7 of them rapid. Seven rapid units means charging is something most drivers plan for, and drivers without a driveway plan for it more.
Aylesbury is fairly well connected, strong on broadband and short drives and middling on public transport. Buyers who drive or work from home will be fine, and train commuters should know they will be in a small minority.