St Luke's is very well connected, and most of its residents barely use the connections. Three stations are within reach. The buses come constantly. Broadband is close to universal. Yet a train commuter is a rarity, and most residents worked from home or went on foot.
The stations are Old Street on the eastern edge, Moorgate to the south and Farringdon to the west. Even so, at the 2021 census only about 2% of working residents took the train to work and about 7% took the bus. The area has 142 bus stops. Being the stop before the City is not quite the same as needing a train to reach it.
The census commute was led by home working, at about 57%. That was 2021, when many offices had not yet called people back. Walking came next, at about 14%, then driving at about 5% and cycling at about 4%. About 77% of households have no car and about 3% have two or more, which in Zone 1 counts as a lifestyle choice with a parking problem attached.
The Department for Transport's modelled journey times put the nearest town centre about 9 minutes away by car, 12 by bike, 19 by public transport and 22 on foot. Those are national averages, worked out for the area as a whole. A 22-minute walk to a "town centre" from the edge of the City shows the model has a stricter idea of a town centre than most Londoners do.
On the same Department for Transport statistics, a GP is about 7 minutes away whether you walk, drive or take the bus. A hospital is about 10 minutes by car and 15 by public transport. A food shop is a 3-minute walk, or 6 minutes by car for anyone who insists. Employment is 4 minutes by car and 6 by public transport. These are modelled averages from 2019, and the public transport times are the least dependable, since services have changed since then while the distances have stayed put.
The buses are busy as well as plentiful. Each stop sees about 566 scheduled departures on an average weekday and about 30 buses in the peak hour, and every stop here has a weekend service. Thirty buses an hour at a single stop means nobody here has much use for a timetable.
About 95% of premises can get gigabit broadband and about 97% can get superfast, and both mobile coverage measures reach every postcode on every network. For the majority who work from home, the connection that matters most is the one in the hallway.
Road noise is the cost of all that traffic. About 67% of postcodes sit near or above 65 decibels, the level at which official noise mapping treats road noise as significant, and the loudest band recorded is 75 decibels and above. Rail noise is not a factor in any postcode. Before you commit to a flat, check which way the bedroom faces, because the front and back of the same block can sound like two different addresses.
St Luke's has 64 public charge points with 105 connectors between them, 6 of them rapid. Since three in four households have no car, there are few people competing for them.
St Luke's is well connected without being outstanding. Stations, buses and broadband are all close at hand, and most residents still get to work at the speed they walk.