I saw an interesting public transit pricing structure while on vacation in the Loire Valley. It's described (in French) in remi-centrevaldeloire.fr/tar… Basically, the train/bus system for the region of Centre-Val de Loire offers a pass priced to compete with rental cars. 1/5

It didn't occur to me until a week later that it was a "rental car equivalent" train pass, but once I realized it, it became clear that they decided to make sure that people wouldn't choose a rental car over the train based on price. 2/5

So they made a train pass that's good for unlimited trips within a 2 day (for 45€) or 3 day (for 60€) window, for any group of 1-5 people traveling together. (There's also a pricier variant that includes the region's trains that go to Paris-Austerlitz.) 3/5

Our pass paid for itself on the first of our three days as tourists, when our train fares without it would have been Blois-Tours (12€ ×2), Tours-Chenonceaux (9€ ×2) and Chenonceaux-Blois (15€ ×2) or 72€ total, never mind the 12€ day 2, or 18€ day 3. 4/5

The real reason for us not renting a car was not having to deal with the traffic rules (though I've paid attention there and probably understand them well enough). But it's good that the transit agency considers how their price compares to people's alternatives. 5/5

How do you know how many twits you need at beginning?