Kennington is well connected, close enough to central London that a car is mostly optional. The Northern line runs through it and the buses are constant. Most households don't own a car. At the last census, about half of working residents didn't commute at all. What you give up is quiet, because the traffic that makes it so easy to get around also goes past your window.
The Northern line runs through Kennington. Vauxhall station is on its western edge, with the Victoria line and trains into London Waterloo, and Elephant & Castle station is next door to the east. Even so, only about 4% of working residents took the train to work at the 2021 Census, against about 12% who went by bus. There are 92 bus stops in and around the district. Kennington is close enough to the centre that most people who do commute take the bus or walk.
At the 2021 Census about 49% of working residents worked mainly from home. About 10% walked to work, 7% drove and 6% cycled. About 68% of households have no car, and only about 4% have two or more. The ones who do own a car are paying to park something they rarely use.
Bus stops only tell you so much, so the departures matter more. The national public transport timetable data counts an average of about 678 departures per stop on a weekday, around 36 an hour at the peak, and every stop has a weekend service. Those are current figures. Nobody in Kennington needs to know the timetable.
The Department for Transport models journeys from the area to the nearest town centre at about 10 minutes by car, 11 by bike, 16 by public transport and 18 on foot. Those times date from 2019, and the public transport ones have aged worst, because services change and the destinations don't. On the same modelled figures, a GP is about 6 minutes on foot and 7 by car, a food shop about 4 minutes' walk, and a hospital about 11 minutes by car or 17 by public transport. Somewhere with jobs is about 4 minutes away by car and 7 by public transport. For an inner-London district these are short times, and the walk to the shop is often quicker than finding a parking space when you get there.
Gigabit broadband reaches about 89% of premises, superfast covers effectively all of them, and none fall below the legal minimum for a decent connection. Every network has 4G or 5G coverage across the whole area, so nobody is stuck on one provider.
Road noise is the downside. About 99% of Kennington's postcodes are near or above 65 decibels of road noise, the level at which the official noise mapping treats it as significant, and the loudest band reaches 75 decibels or more. Rail noise is a separate, smaller issue, affecting about 5% of postcodes. How loud a particular flat is depends on which side the bedroom faces, so a second viewing at rush hour is worth more than a first one on a Sunday. Kennington Road was laid out in 1751 to carry traffic to Westminster Bridge, and it has been doing exactly that ever since.
There are 121 public charge points in the area with 136 connectors between them, and 5 of them are rapid chargers. With so few rapid units, charging an electric car here means planning ahead. You can't count on topping up while you shop.
For a typical resident, getting to work means a short bus ride, a Northern line train, a walk, or no commute at all. Kennington is well connected for a district this close to the centre, and road noise is the main thing it costs you.