The way trains operate in the UK is not logical, let me explain....
Imagine London is a clock face. The place where the number 11 is located is called Amersham. The palace where the number nine is Located is called Uxbridge. If you wanted to go from 11 to 9, you would take a train to where hands meet and then back accross.
That is a long distance in total because you are not going in a straight line. The distance is like going all the way accross the city. You would think this makes the journey expensive, right? Well no it doesn't, you only get charged £1.80 for that journey, about the price of two loafs of bread.
Now imgagine the city center is located just below the middle of the clock. What would happen if you took a train there? You would get charged much more, even though you are travelling a smaller distance. The pricing of the metro rail is there to reduce the crowds I believe.
The way I look at it is, instead of solving the problem of overcrowding with technology and innovation they punish commuters and make them pay for entering the inner zones of London.
I look at a train as an elevator that goes forwards and backwards instead of up and down. It should be very cheap to travel on a train not just in the suburbs but everywhere. It should be like a Netflix subscription where commuter pays £10 per month and go where they like in the city.
