I don't disagree fwiw, but the issue with it is you have no way to limit demand. Imagine if the season tickets were 50% cheaper overnight going into London, co

I don't disagree fwiw, but the issue with it is you have no way to limit demand. Imagine if the season tickets were 50% cheaper overnight going into London, coming out of government funds. You'd induce (I suspect) double the demand at rush hour, as people could move further from eg London and not be bothered about the price. I definitely don't think the current ticketing system is right but if you moved to this model you'd have even greater overcrowding problems.