It's worth remembering that in general leisure travel contributes more revenue per journey than commuting, by a fair margin. We have seen service levels drop across the country, with varying recovery, but I can count on my hands the number of places services have increased for leisure travelers. So if we have the same amount of services, more leisure travelled and less commuters, that means that you are actually paying less for leisure services, and instead just paying more to subsidise commuter services that once paid for themselves with Anytime fares. Obviously this is a very simplified model, not least there isn't a clear cut split of commuter vs leisure services. But I would very much suggest the services causing extra subsidy are not those used by leisure travellers.indeed, i was broadly happy with the level of subsidy I was paying to the rail industry pre-pandemic from my tax. I'm not happy with the level of subsidy being paid for primarlily leisure travel since. I would prefer my tax being transferred to health, education and even defence. So I support LNERs changes and hope that they will be rolled out nationwide. I acknowledge that my preferences may not align with yours.
There isn't an easy solution here, this argument works with both commuter and leisure services, but more so commuters, in that you need to start considering more than just a profit margin. Both types of travel have significant benefits for the economy, not least through taxes on activities that wouldn't happen without it, as there would be no opportunity. We are in a situation where those commuting by train are more likely to be those working jobs paying less, and who cannot afford a car. Post brexit it is undeniable we have a shortage of workers, and making trains unaffordable or cutting them will only worsen this gap. That will in itself cause damage to the economy. There are of course other benefits to rail travel, in climate emissions, less wear on roads, and therefore expenditure on that, less traffic, etc, etc.
As a related note, something which I believe is brewing, and to be clear this is second hand information, having come from someone I was recently on holiday with that manages a fairly large employer with significant remote working, and the view form other large primarily remote working companies they work with, is that they are starting to realise remote working is causing a significant drop in productivity, and many are at least considering dropping it, even for longer distance meetings. I personally wouldn't be surprised if a large amount of remote working disappeared over the next few years, and I think that will be reflected in rail travel, albeit perhaps slower, as the roads return to being as congested as before Covid.