Well enough for a village where half the workforce never sets off. It has two stations, one in the village and one just over the line. About half of working residents work from home. Gigabit broadband reaches almost every home. In Hersham the fibre cable carries more of the commute than the railway does.
Hersham station is in the village and Walton-on-Thames station is on its northern edge, with Esher not far east. The 2021 Census found only about 4% of working residents taking the train to work, and about 1% the bus. The village has 55 bus stops, and they are far busier on paper than in the commuting figures.
The real commute mix is short. About 52% of working residents worked from home at the 2021 Census, about 33% drove, about 4% walked and about 2% cycled. Only about 11% of households have no car, while about 43% have two or more. Two stations on the doorstep, and more households keep two cars than leave the car at home.
The Department for Transport's modelled journey-time statistics give the nearest town centre at about 8 minutes by car, 10 by bike, 11 by public transport and 13 on foot. Those numbers are close together because the centre is close. For everyday errands the same modelling puts a GP about 8 minutes away by car, 14 on foot or 12 by public transport, and a food store about 10 minutes' walk or 7 minutes' drive. A main employment centre is about 12 minutes by car or 13 by public transport, and a hospital about 28 minutes by car against about 58 on public transport. All of these are 2019 averages for the area. The car and walking times will have held up, and the public transport times are the ones most likely to have worsened as services were cut.
The buses are better than their ridership suggests. On a weekday each stop averages about 22 scheduled departures, roughly two an hour at peak, and every stop has some weekend service. That is a usable service for the shops or the GP, and its timetable looks better than most commuters would expect.
Broadband is where Hersham leaves most of Surrey behind. Gigabit-capable connections reach about 95% of premises and ultrafast about 96%, and superfast coverage is complete, with no homes below the legal minimum service. Coverage from at least one 4G or 5G operator is 100%, and so is coverage from all of them, so nobody in Hersham has to choose a phone network around their address.
Electric car owners have less to work with. The area has 2 public charging sites with 39 connectors between them, and only 1 rapid unit. Charging is something to sort out at home on your own drive, since a quick top-up on the way past is unlikely.
Road noise is the cost of having roads that go everywhere. Every Hersham postcode is near or above 65 decibels, the level at which official noise mapping treats road traffic as significant, and the loudest band present reaches 75. Rail noise is a separate and smaller issue, with about 5% of postcodes near the 65-decibel mark along the line, also peaking at 75. The congregationalists' Round Chapel stood from 1844 until 1961, when it made way for the village's dual carriageway, and the traffic has been the louder congregation ever since. The noise maps show the band each postcode falls in. Standing outside the house at rush hour tells you how much of it gets through your own window.
Hersham is better connected than most villages and a little short of excellent. The broadband is first-rate and the stations are close, and in practice most residents still get about by car.