Hounslow runs on buses. More of its commuters take the bus than the train. Four in ten households don't own a car. Almost every home can get gigabit broadband. It's better connected than its rail figures suggest, and the buses are the reason.
Hounslow Rail Station has been on the Hounslow Loop Line since 1850, the Piccadilly line runs through the town, and stations at Isleworth, Syon Lane, Whitton, Feltham and the Heathrow terminals are all close by. At the 2021 census only about 5% of working residents took the train to work. The buses carried far more of them: about 17% commuted by bus, from 145 stops across the area.
At that census, about 28% of working residents worked from home and about 25% drove, so those two were the biggest groups. Buses came next at 17%, then walking at about 7%. Cycling managed about 2%. About 40% of households had no car, and about 21% had two or more. For a town this close to so many major roads, a quarter driving to work is a small share, and four households in ten get by fine without a car.
The Department for Transport's journey-time statistics are modelled averages for the area, dating from 2019. They put the nearest town centre about 9 minutes away by car, 13 by public transport, 10 by bike and 15 on foot. When the walk is only six minutes longer than the drive, the car isn't saving anyone much time.
The same modelled 2019 statistics put a GP about 7 minutes away by car, 10 on foot and 10 by public transport. A food store is about 8 minutes' walk or 7 minutes' drive, and the nearest employment centre about 8 minutes by car and 9 by public transport. Hospital is the one long trip: about 15 minutes by car, 30 by public transport and 45 on foot. The distances in these figures don't change, but the public transport times are from 2019 and services have changed since, so the bus and train times are the least reliable of the set.
The bus figures are current. The 134 stops with timetable data each average about 474 departures on a weekday and about 26 an hour at peak, and every one of them has a weekend service. Those numbers count departures. A stop seeing a bus every couple of minutes at peak is a turn-up-and-go service, the kind most of the country can only dream of.
Gigabit broadband reaches about 92% of premises here, ultrafast also about 92%, and superfast about 98%. None falls below the universal service minimum. Mobile coverage is complete as well: every postcode gets 4G or 5G from at least one operator, and 100% from all of them. Anyone working from home in Hounslow will struggle to blame the connection.
The noise is part of the deal. More than 99% of the area's postcodes are near road noise at or above 65 decibels, the level at which official noise mapping counts road traffic as significant, and the loudest band recorded reaches 75 decibels. Rail noise is a separate source: about 43% of postcodes are near rail noise of 65 decibels, and that is also its loudest band. Far more of the town hears the trains than takes them. If quiet matters to you, stand in the back bedroom of any home you're viewing at rush hour, because the noise maps can't tell you how a particular room sounds.
There are 35 public charge points in the area with 51 connectors between them, and just one is a rapid charger. With one rapid unit in a town this size, charging an electric car here is something to plan around.
For a typical commute, the bus does most of the work: a short ride to the town centre, a rail connection or a job nearby. The car is a back-up, and the train is for London days.
Hounslow is better connected than most. Frequent buses, fast broadband and short trips to everyday places carry it, while one rapid charger and constant traffic noise hold it back.