Do you live in UK or US? I used to live in the country too - and was able to take regular trains in less than an hour from my house to London.

Compare here, we have a Caltrain that only runs once an hour during the day, is slow, and to get to city requires switching to the Bart, which is also slow, and so filthy too, its much easier just to drive into the city, avoiding the potholes, and hoping your car doesn't get broken into when you park late downtown...

UK has it way better without any cherry picking :)