Just watching Richard Wilson’s Dispatches programme on the UK rail system – slightly depressing viewing! It just seems daft that private companies are profiting hugely from the UK taxpayer, while offering sub-standard services at eye-watering prices.
My simple solution is this:
Buying an expensive season ticket (or annual discount card such as the excellent Swiss demi tarif) would give you a shareholding in the company you buy it from. That way, if they racked up a big profit – for example, by not employing enough drivers or having overcrowded carriages, you’d get back a dividend for your trouble. Alternatively, if profits were diluted by offering a comfortable and reliable service, you’d see a smaller dividend but have a nicer travelling experience.
In effect, you’d see a tangible discount if things ran poorly, instead of paying up regardless. And if a significant pool of rail companies’ equity was owned by the travelling public, they might become more responsive to customer’s needs.
No doubt some kind of complex senior/junior shareholder arrangement would be needed. I’ll leave that to the corporate lawyers.
things that might have been otherwise 
The amount of time I spend on the train – I’d be a major shareholder by now! I like it….