I suspect a Metropolitan peak train from Amersham or Cheshunt has a lot more space on it at say
a travel card from Brookwood is 35 quid. It is supposed to take 35 minutes or so the get to Waterloo. It doesn’t. It almost invariably runs 5-10 minutes late. So it takes nearer 45 minutes. I decided it on my perception of value. I expect a seat when I buy a ticket to be the norm. Or I expect rapid fast and reliable. It isn’t. In London it’s travel card pricing so you expect less. Or rather you are more likely to have to stand. From, guildford, brookwood, woking, sometimes even Farnham and Haslemere can see you standing. That isn’t acceptable For the fares wanted. This is not metroland. This is Surrey. The rates charged have risen by a lot. The car parking has gone up significantly more than regulated fares. There are no discounted period returns. I think again the railway forgets that it is there for the human cargo, not for itself. Are we unreasonable in expecting to at least sit down when you make us late almost every day. You’re a purchase that it is a virtual necessity. At least make it a little less intolerable.
You need to get out of your 'self-entitled Surrey traveller' bubble and realise that you are just another south-east commuter. The SWML is like most of the the other main routes into London virtually at capacity in the peak. Trains are generally at maximum practical length which is determined by the infrastructure. There is no way that additional carriage space can be provided, so what gives. There is only one way to go, that is fit more passengers into each train. You may not have noticed, but a seated passenger (including the seat that they occupy) takes up more space than four standees.
Now jump out of your bubble and think what the alternative is. Yes, it means leaving fare-paying passengers on the platform because they can't board an already full train. It might nt be at Brookwood so you would be OK, but in the real world, the railway is run for all passengers, not just those from Brookwood, (or even the whole of Surrey) who think that they are entitled to a seat at everybody else's expense. This is the future of commuting into London (and certain other UK cities in a few years) and passengers on other lines have had to get used to it. Take Thameslink, the lines run at saturation point, The trains are run at maximum length, and are full - even the class 700s, but most passengers are now seeing that a standing place on a train speeding towards their destination is far preferable to standing on a cold platform letting two trains depart without them because they are already crush loaded. Now it's your turn to get used to that so get over it.
The cost of a monthly travel card is approaching £450. (Brookwood). How does someone on normal wages (say 35k justify spending the thick end of 20-25% of their net income on a slow, regularly delayed train service. Plus about another 100 a month to park. And accept that they will be standing up for the thick end of two hours a day. Why bother working in London ? (I don’t know why so many actually do do it). Trains are very expensive. For people in the real world who have to an for themselves and have to commute. At the moment all that happens is that they are exploited by ever worse provision of service and quality (or would you disagree with that?). They pay ever more and get less.
OK, so a Brookwood monthly travelcard is £441.60 which when used for 20 return journeys is under 41p per mile. A St Albans monthly travelcard is £435.50 which for 20 return journeys is over 54p per mile! So it looks like you aren't so hard done by.
Whining about your travelling wishes won't change anything. You ask "
Why bother working in London ?"; - if you feel it isn't for you then do something about it.
Or are you going near third class travel, Ryanair style.... a carriage that costs half as much but is a GUV with push button doors and standing room ..... actually I’d better not suggest that, even tongue in cheek.
The overall cost per coach of a 100mph EMU doesn't vary much whether it is equipped for high density commuting loads or low capacity branch line traffic.