Cosham is unusually well-connected for its size. A railway station at the foot of the High Street with services heading out in multiple directions. Around 114 bus stops across the area. Gigabit broadband at nine in ten premises. Most residents drive anyway.
For rail, Cosham Rail Station is the local headline. It offers London-bound services running in multiple directions, which is the unusual bit for a suburban interchange. The wider rail footprint takes in Hilsea Rail Station, Portchester Rail Station and Bedhampton Rail Station within a short hop, with Fratton Rail Station, Portsmouth & Southsea Rail Station and Portsmouth Harbour Rail Station sitting further south on the island. Despite all that, only around two in a hundred Cosham residents actually commute by train. The infrastructure is there; the demand for it is not. Bus provision is denser than the train numbers suggest. Around 114 bus stops sit inside the area, reflecting Cosham's role as the mainland pinch-point where the rest of the city has to interchange to get north. About three in a hundred residents use the bus to commute.
Broadband is the standout. Gigabit availability covers around nine in ten premises, with full-fibre at the same level and superfast service reaching roughly nine in ten too. No premises in the area fall below the universal service obligation. Mobile coverage adds the same picture: every operator's network reaches every part of the area. For anyone whose work is at the other end of a video call, the infrastructure is generous enough that the daily commute is optional.
The shape of how Cosham actually moves around tells the rest of the story. About 46 in a hundred residents drive to work, around 16 in a hundred walk, around three in a hundred cycle, and a little over a fifth work from home. The town centre is reachable in about eight minutes by car, just over ten by public transport, around nine by cycle, and about eleven on foot. The cycle network sits at an average of around 380 metres from a typical postcode, and roughly seven in ten postcodes are close to the National Cycle Network. There are seven electric-vehicle chargers in the area and thirteen connections in total, including two rapid units, which is starting from a low base but is at least there.
This is a place that has been built, by accident more than design, for almost every way of getting around. The trains run, but few residents take them. The buses cover the area densely. The car runs the show. The broadband is good enough that working from home displaces the commute for a fifth of the workforce. The mainland geography means destinations across Portsmouth, plus Portchester, Drayton and the wider mainland strip, sit on the doorstep rather than on the wrong side of the bridge.
Above average is the honest verdict. Connectivity is Cosham's strongest hand, with broadband doing most of the carrying and the trains doing the least. The infrastructure is better than the usage suggests.