Annual season ticket to London from Peterborough, at the edge of the commuter belt with relatively affordable housing is £9,500 (including Tube)
That's 20% of your after tax income if you're on more than double the median UK salary
That's 20% of your after tax income if you're on more than double the median UK salary
Now undoubtedly £7,388 a year is a significant chunk of cash. But to be clear, Peterborough is very much on the edge of the commuter belt at 60 miles from London. A more typical 'commuter belt' origin on that route would be somewhere like Stevenage, Welwyn or Hatfield - which come in at £4,224/year, £3,300/year and £3,076/year respectively.
Sure, you can pay a mere £4k per annum for your rail ticket coming in from somewhere like Stevenage, but then you have to find a mortgage lender that will let you borrow another £100k (and won't have a more exciting locality or fancier house to show for it)
A friend commuted from Coventry to London for a year. She moved there with her husband, but had one more year to go on her PhD -- using the labs at the university was essential, but there was also plenty of work that could be done on the train.
Sounds like the commuter rail is pricing itself just below the cost of a car.
peterborough is on the border of super-commuter category