Caddington is well connected by car and by cable, and much less so by anything else. Most people who commute drive. Close to a third work from home. The train and bus barely register. Every postcode can get superfast broadband, while every postcode also sits near road noise loud enough for the official maps to mark it.
There is no railway station in Caddington. The nearest ones are Luton, Leagrave and Luton Airport Parkway, and about 2% of working residents commuted by train at the 2021 Census. There are 19 bus stops in the village, and about 1% of workers took the bus. The village has a choice of three stations, and all three are in Luton.
Driving is how Caddington gets to work. At the 2021 Census about 59% of working residents drove, about 29% worked from home and about 4% walked, with cycling at about 1%. Car ownership is high to match. About 52% of households have two or more cars, while about 12% have none. Those few without a car rely on a bus network that was not designed with them in mind.
The Department for Transport's modelled journey times put the nearest town centre about 13 minutes away by car, 24 by public transport, 21 by bike and about 50 on foot. The model dates from 2019, and of the four the public transport time is the one most likely to have aged since. Fifty minutes on foot rules walking out for anything except a long weekend stroll.
The same modelling covers the everyday errands. A GP is about 8 minutes by car, 9 by public transport or about 12 on foot. A food shop is about 8 minutes by car or about 12 walking. The nearest hospital is about 16 minutes by car and 26 by public transport, and the nearest large employment centre about 14 by car and 11 by public transport. These are modelled averages for the area. Distances to a fixed place don't change much, but the 2019 bus and train times are the least trustworthy here because services have been cut since then. The GP and the shops are within walking distance, and almost everything else needs the car.
The six stops with timetable records average about 15 scheduled departures each on a weekday and roughly one bus in the peak hour, and all six have some weekend service. These are current timetables, unlike the journey-time model. One bus an hour at peak is something you plan around. Nobody turns up and just catches it.
Broadband is the strongest part of Caddington's connections. Superfast reaches every postcode, ultrafast about 89% and gigabit about 87%, and no postcode falls below the government's minimum guaranteed service. Phone signal is just as complete. Every postcode gets 4G or 5G from at least one network, and about 99% from all of them. Close to a third of the workforce chose the cable over the commute, and the cable has rarely let them down.
For a typical working day, that means a short drive to most destinations, a longer and less dependable bus ride, and for close to a third of the village, no commute at all.
Road noise is everywhere. Every postcode in Caddington is near or above 65 decibels of road noise on the government's strategic noise mapping, the level at which official mapping treats road noise as significant, and the loudest band recorded in the village reaches 75 decibels. None of the village's postcodes come close to that threshold for rail noise. How loud any one house is depends on where it faces and what sits between it and the road. Visiting a shortlisted house at rush hour with the windows open answers that more honestly than any map. The traffic the village relies on is also the traffic it listens to.
Caddington's connections are middling: excellent on broadband, fine by car, and weak for anyone hoping to manage without one.