Enfield Highway is well connected, and buses do most of the work. Stops are everywhere and the buses come often. Gigabit broadband reaches nine homes in ten. A third of households don't own a car. Trains are close by, yet hardly anyone takes one to work.
Five stations serve the area: Enfield Lock, Brimsdown, Ponders End, Turkey Street and Southbury. Despite that, only about 7% of working residents went to work by train at the 2021 Census. The bus did nearly twice that work, carrying about 13%, and it has 254 stops in and around the area to work from. Before committing to an address, walk from the door to the nearest of those five stations, because how long that walk takes decides whether the trains are any use to you.
Driving is still the biggest single way to work, at about 39% at that Census, and about 22% worked from home. Walking took about 6% and cycling about 2%. A third of households here have no car at all, and about 23% have two or more, so the area splits fairly cleanly between people who drive everywhere and people who never do.
The Department for Transport's journey-time statistics, modelled for the area as a whole, put the nearest town centre about 9 minutes away by car, 11 by bike, 15 by public transport and 19 on foot. Everyday errands come out just as short. A GP is about 7 minutes by car, 8 on foot and 8 by public transport. A food shop is about 8 minutes' walk or 7 minutes' drive, and the nearest cluster of jobs is about 8 minutes by car or 10 by public transport. The one long trip is to hospital: about 20 minutes by car, and about 38 by public transport. All of these are modelled averages; the drive and walk times hold up because the places haven't moved, but the public transport times date from 2019 and some services have been cut since.
The current bus timetable is better evidence than any of that. A typical stop here has about 367 scheduled departures on a weekday and around 21 in the busiest hour. Of the 218 stops with timetable data, 217 have some service at weekends. With buses that frequent, nobody bothers checking a timetable.
Gigabit broadband is available to about 91% of premises, ultrafast to 92% and superfast to 98%, and no premises fall below the legal minimum for a decent connection. Every postcode gets 4G or 5G from every network.
Road noise is the downside. Every postcode here is near or above 65 decibels from road traffic, the level at which official noise mapping counts it as significant, and the loudest band in the area reaches 75. Railways add to it: about 69% of postcodes are near or above the same threshold for rail noise, with the loudest band also at 75. A neighbourhood named after the road it lines was never going to be quiet, though neither figure can tell you how a particular house sounds with the windows shut.
The area has 19 public charge points with 42 connectors between them, and 9 of those connectors are rapid. Nine rapid connectors means charging an electric car still mostly has to be planned. Only now and then can you top up while you shop.
For a typical commute, the bus is what makes the area work. Buses run often enough to turn up and wait, the train is there for anyone near the right station, and the car is quick for short local trips but will spend some of every journey in the traffic that gives the place its noise figures.
Connections are one of Enfield Highway's real strengths: buses that run all day and all week, fast broadband and short trips to the basics. The cost is the noise from the traffic outside.