Bushey is well connected for anyone with a router or a car, and less so for anyone relying on a train. Four in ten working residents work from home. About as many drive. Hardly anyone takes the train. Fast broadband reaches nearly every front door, and for most of the town that line is the main way into work.
Bushey Rail Station is in the town, with Watford Junction, Watford High Street and Carpenders Park all close by. Even so, only about 3% of working residents took the train to work at the 2021 census. Buses carried about 2%, despite 116 bus stops across the area. The London and Birmingham Railway cut through in the 1830s and at first didn't stop for Bushey, and most of the town still doesn't bother with the train.
The commute mostly runs from home or in a car. At the 2021 census about 42% of working residents worked from home and about 41% drove, with about 5% walking and almost nobody cycling. About 13% of households have no car, and about 44% have two or more. A good many Bushey driveways have more cars on them than there are people in the house commuting.
The Department for Transport's journey-time statistics, which are modelled averages for the area, put the nearest town centre about 9 minutes away by car, 11 by bike, 16 by public transport and 20 on foot. The car comes out quickest, but walking is still a realistic option.
From the same Department for Transport figures, a GP is about 8 minutes by car, 14 by public transport and 16 on foot. A food shop is about 7 minutes by car and 11 on foot. Employment is about 7 minutes by car and 13 by public transport. Hospital is the outlier, about 15 minutes by car, 36 by public transport and 50 on foot. All of these are modelled averages, and the public transport times date from 2019, before later service cuts, so they are the weakest figures of the set. Without a car, a hospital appointment takes a good part of the day.
The buses run more often than the commuting figures would suggest. The 106 stops with timetable data average about 184 scheduled weekday departures each, about 10 an hour at peak, and about 95% of stops have some service at weekends. Plenty of buses run, and most of the town still drives past the stops.
Gigabit broadband reaches about 92% of premises and superfast about 99%, so working from home here rests on solid ground. Every postcode gets a 4G or 5G signal on every network.
Road noise is close to universal. Over 99% of postcodes are near or above 65 decibels, the level at which official noise mapping treats road noise as significant, and the loudest band recorded reaches 75 decibels. Rail noise is a separate source, with about 61% of postcodes near or above the same 65-decibel threshold and a top band of 75 decibels. A house near the line can be checked on the government's strategic noise maps, which show road and rail noise separately for each address.
Electric car owners have little public charging. The area has 9 public charge points with 14 connectors between them, and only one is a rapid charger. With a single rapid unit, a top-up has to be planned in advance.
Bushey's connections are better than its rail figures make them look, provided the connection is a fibre line or a car.