Ofo: What a Day There Really Costs
A weekday morning ticket, bought at the gate, with the bus instead of the tour
The tour transfer replaced by a public bus to the same gate
A cable car queue that is longer than the walk it replaces.
Ofo is priced by the ticket, the transfer and the hours, and the hours are the part a schedule hides.
Prices for ofo arrive in ranges rather than headlines, and the ranges are what a household can plan with.
A price fixed by an office is the same everywhere, and a price set by a shop is not.
What does ofo cost?
What ofo costs is a set of 5 lines rather than a headline price, and the basis column is the part to read.
Distance from the city centre sets the transfer, and the transfer sets the day.
A public site is subsidised and a commercial one is not, and the ticket for ofo reflects which it is.
Treat every figure as a typical range, because the same line is a different number in the next city and the next season.
A household pays twice for ofo when it pays for speed and then pays again to change the date.
A refund policy for ofo is worth more than a discount, and the policy is the line to read first.
| Line | Typical range | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Meal near the gate | $8–20 | per person |
| Audio guide | $5–20 | typical |
| Cable car or shuttle | $10–25 | typical |
| Metro or bus to the gate | $0.30–3 | city fare |
| Entry ticket | $0–15 | site dependent |
Cheapest and dearest
The two ends of the table tell the story of ofo: one line is a fee, the other is a service.
The cheapest line is entry ticket at $0–15, and the dearest is cable car or shuttle at $10–25, so the spread runs about $0–25 before anything optional.
The bottom of the range is a fee and the top is a service, and most households buy something in between.
| End of the range | Typical cost | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Entry ticket | $0–15 | site dependent |
| Cable car or shuttle | $10–25 | typical |
The smallest honest budget
The arithmetic is easier with two lines than with five: entry ticket ($0–15) plus metro or bus to the gate ($0.30–3) is $0.30–18, and the rest is discretionary.
That total is the number to budget, and the optional lines are the ones to cut when the month is short.
The sum is the minimum a household should expect, and the minimum is the number that survives a bad month.
The line that moves most in ofo is the one set by the city rather than by the office.
Add the third line, audio guide at $5–20, and the minimum rises to $5.30–38 before anything optional.
| Line | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Entry ticket | $0–15 |
| Metro or bus to the gate | $0.30–3 |
| Minimum total | $0.30–18 |
The alternatives, priced
Every price for the visit has an alternative next to it, and the alternative is what the household is really choosing between.
Some of these alternatives save money and cost time, and the exchange rate between the two is the decision.
The substitute is rarely identical, and the difference is usually the hour rather than the money.
A price quoted for the visit in one city is not the price in the next, and the difference is not small.
| Alternative | Typical range |
|---|---|
| A taxi both ways | $15–45 |
| A combined ticket | $20–40 |
| A guided tour | $30–80 |
How does a household do it?
Every step here is a decision rather than a purchase, and the first one is to price the line before paying it.
Buy the ticket at the gate. The gate price for the visit is the published price, and the tour markup is not.
Leave before the last cable car. The last ride is the one that strands a family at the top.
Go on a weekday morning. The same ticket buys a shorter queue and a better photograph at eight.
Take the public bus to the entrance. The bus costs a fraction of the tour transfer and stops at the same gate.
Carry water and a hat. The stall inside the gate sells both at several times the street price.
Check the closing day. A museum that closes on Monday closes for the traveller who booked a Monday.
The household that checks the fixed line before the optional one keeps the budget for the visit under control.
What the price does not include
A fair account of the visit has to include the parts that do not work.
A ticket that includes a guide is not always a better ticket, and the guide's English is the variable.
Summer heat and holiday weeks are the two constraints that no ticket price includes.
The crowd is the product at the popular gate, and the quiet gate is a longer drive with fewer facilities.
A site that closes at five stops selling tickets at four, and the last hour is the shortest.
The restored section of the visit is a reconstruction, and the wild section is a hike with a real fall risk.
A taxi that waits at the gate charges for the wait, and the meter is the honest version.
A service that guarantees an outcome for the visit is selling something it does not control.
The price of the visit is quoted per person, per visit or per table, and the unit changes the total.
What the calendar changes
Timing changes the number more than bargaining does.
The first hour after opening is the only hour when the popular gate is quiet.
Visit the visit in the shoulder months, when the ticket is the same and the queue is half.
The last week before a holiday is the most expensive week for the visit, and the first week after is the cheapest.
A household that plans by the season pays the ordinary price, and the ordinary price is the one the table describes.
What should you check before paying?
Before paying for the visit, five checks change the total more than any discount.
Confirm the unit. A price per person is not a price per table for the visit, and the unit is the first thing a quote hides.
Check the travel window. A ticket for the visit that arrives after the trip is a refund request, not a ticket.
Ask for the itemised bill. An itemised bill for the visit shows which line is fixed and which is a service.
Confirm the date and the name. A booking for the visit in the wrong name is a booking that is bought twice.
Ask what is excluded. The excluded line is where a cheap quote for the visit becomes an expensive bill.
Keep the confirmation in writing. A screenshot of the terms for the visit is the evidence a dispute needs.
A household that runs the five checks once runs them on the next purchase without thinking.
Who pays?
The cost falls on the person who books it, and the benefit falls on everyone at the table.
The household that splits the cost also splits the decision, and the split is the argument.
The household matters less than the number of people it brings to the table.
A household with children uses a different version of the visit from a household of two.
What's worth taking?
The household that visits the visit on a weekday pays the same ticket and buys a shorter queue.
Related reading, on the same kind of arithmetic: Nanjing, Beijing and Three Gorges.
The search for the visit ends with a number, and the number is easier to check than to argue about.
What the visit costs is a range, and a range is small enough to plan with.
The cheapest version of the visit is the one with the longest wait, and the wait is the discount.
The busy season doubles the price of the visit and halves the choice, and both halves are the same week.
The price of the visit is set by three things: the season, the city, and whether a person or a form does the work.
Sources
- Urban population (% of total population) — World Bank Open Data · accessed 2026-10-19
- Household final consumption expenditure per capita — World Bank Open Data · accessed 2026-10-19