Right .... so anyone struggling with commuter costs must be living in the wrong place and/or their employer is in the wrong place ?? Hmmm .... how to remedy that then ?
Oh yeah .... Step 1: move closer to your job. This assumes that you can actually sell, that you don't have negative equity, that the house prices closer to work are the same or less than the area you currently live in and that you have "spare" money to cover associated moving costs like legal fees, stamp duty etc.
Or, Step 2: look for work closer to home. This assumes that there is work available first off, that you're lucky enough to be selected for a job that many others are also chasing, that local wages are equivalent to your current job or that the saving made from reduced travel costs is greater than a difference in wages and that your particular skills and experience are represented by local vacancies.
The reality for many people is that they are totally trapped - by their homes and/or their jobs. There are NO jobs my DP could do closer to home unless he took a huge pay drop - which would obviously be pointless - as jobs in his sector tend to be based in a few particular cities. Conversely, we can't move closer to his job as we already live as close as we can afford to be ... any nearer and prices get more and more expensive. Even if we could get a larger mortgage - which is another factor due to the tightening up of mortgage criteria/multiples, the additional expense of that would be greater than the saving in commuting costs.
It's an utterly crap situation for probably 100s of 1000s of people who can't do anything about it other than ride out the storm and continually cut back their standard of living in the meantime (e.g. food, heating, clothing - never mind non essentials) so they can afford to get to work. Contrary to what some people believe, paying significant commuting costs - be they petrol and/or train fares isn't actually a choice for many ... you pay them or you lose your job ... because there is no alternative.
In our particular case the irony is that my DP works for a company whose products, amongst other things, are touted as a solution for homeworkers. The ability to work from home is one of their selling points and emphasised to prospective clients. Yet working from home for most of their employees is frowned upon and actively discouraged except in the most exceptional of circumstances. My DP's job is 95% desk based, dealing with outside clients, and therefore in theory he could do the same job just as well from home for the vast majority of the working week, excluding occasional face to face meetings and consultations with colleagues .... which in reality could easily be condensed into a half day every week if that. Yet due to company policy he must spend 3 plus hours commuting every day at a cost of more than £400 per month. It's sickening ..... and no, he hasn't had a payrise for years either.