For the most part, it depends on the situation.

In the case of the Ohio Central, or any running operation, they can just talk to the ridership to find out what people think of the price they currently charge, and the opinion of the ride. If the consensus is that the ride is a bargain, then they are safe to raise the price a few bucks. Since they know how many people came during the previous season(s), they can base their estimate on that number, knowing that a small percentage may not come back due to the price increase, no matter how small. If during the talks with the ridership, people start moaning that the price is already a little high, then the operation is going to need to add something new to enhance the ride, or add something external to the ride that will raise the needed additional funds.

In the case of a new operation, without anything similar in the area, it is a gamble, but the group needs to keep in mind that it will take 2-3 years for attendance to get to it's full level, due to the time it takes advertisement and word of mouth to get around.

The third case would be if a operation had run in the area, but is either still running, or closed down. Then the numbers can be based on that operation.

In any case, the people running the ride, should casually poll the ridership so that they can keep as many people happy and returning as possible. If they don’t, then there could be something that is easy to fix, but will kill the operation if ignored, as word gets around..

Hope this helps,

Rich C.