Kensington - Transport

Transport

Kensington is crossed east-west by three main roads, the most important of which is the A4 or Cromwell Road which connects it to both Central London and Heathrow Airport. To the north is the mostly parallel Kensington Road (of which Kensington High Street forms a large part), linking central London and Hammersmith to the area. To the south is Fulham Road, which connects South Kensington with Fulham to the southwest. North-south connections are not as well-developed and there is no obvious single north-south route through the area.

Kensington is well served by public transport. Most of Kensington is served by three stations located in the Travelcard Zone 1: High Street Kensington, Gloucester Road and South Kensington. All three are served by the Circle Line which connects them to London's railway terminals. The District Line also serves all three stations, albeit on different branches; it links the latter two to Westminster and the City. The Piccadilly Line also links South Kensington and Gloucester Road to the West End in about 10 minutes, and in the other direction to Heathrow Airport in about 40 minutes. In addition Kensington (Olympia) in Travelcard Zone 2 serves the western part of Kensington, with District Line trains to Earl's Court and High Street Kensington. (West Kensington station is not in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.)

A number of local bus services link Kensington into the surrounding districts, and key bus hubs are Kensington High Street and South Kensington station. These bus services were improved in frequency and spread in 2007 to complement the western extension of the London congestion charge area, which required vehicles driving into or around Kensington in charging hours Monday-Friday to pay a daily fee of £8. The extension of the congestion charging area was withdrawn at the end of 2010.