London commuters forked over £4.49bn to rail operators and took some 297m journeys between April 2014 and March this year.

Surrey Comet:

Were you one of them? The London Assembly wants to hear from you.

Members are investigating whether Transport for London should take over the running of suburban trains from companies like Southern and South West Trains.

They want to know how our current system compares to those in other countries, and what the problems are.

They also hope to find out which routes they should prioritise - and everyone who has ever crammed themselves, sardine-like, into a non-air-conditioned carriage on the way to Waterloo will have an opinion.

  • To find out more and give your opinion before Wednesday, July 1, click here.

The Office of Rail and Road said in its latest release that "station improvements, regeneration of areas, additional train services with revised timetables, attractive offers and deals facilitating cheaper travel, and the general upturn in the economy have all contributed to the increasing number of passenger journeys".

But can operators in our area keep up with soaring journey figures that are up 70 per cent since 2003?

Anecdotal evidence from commuters suggests not - frequent are the reports of short formations, late services and trains packed to bursting.

Surbiton, the London Bridge line, Chessington, Epsom, Wimbledon, Clapham Junction - these are all regularly the subject of passengers' ire.

A spokesman for London Travelwatch said: "Trains are getting busier, the peak hours are getting longer, and more people are travelling at off-peak times. This has consequences.

"Trains spend longer at stations, reliability becomes less predictable and journey times are extended, and passenger satisfaction does not improve.

"Late trains usually get later and more crowded the later they get. Therefore running trains more punctually means that crowding is less likely to occur.

"These issues can only be tackled with significant investment in new capacity, such as longer and faster trains and signalling that allows more trains to run, better and more efficient working practices [and] making trains easier to get on and off.

"In the Surrey Comet area this means investment in Crossrail 2, more track capacity between Woking and Waterloo and longer and more frequent trains on routes such as the Wimbledon loop of Thameslink."

This website reported last month that Southern customers had greater cause for complaint than those who travel with South West Trains - with just 78.3 per cent of trains arriving on time compared to the latter's 90.5.

The two franchises ran 19.03m km-worth of journeys between January and March this year, new figures show.

But trains run so closely together, in order to accomodate commuters, that even minor delays can cause gridlock. That may ease once platforms 1 to 4 at Waterloo are extended to accommodate 10-car trains.

What do you think? What is your worst commuter horror story? Comment below or email us at one of the following addresses: