Recently I was booking few train tickets for my in-laws at IRCTC website, which btw is a wonderful website that makes the whole train reservation affair so simple. Just then I have realized that even though you can book tickets online, you still need to carry a printout of the ticket when you board the train. I see 2 different problems here,
- Access to printer and internet connection are not always possible. Just like the case above, even though I could book the tickets, my in-laws still had to go to internet cafe and get the ticket printout. This is annoying not only because they don’t know firefox from just a fox, but also they loose precious time and money while doing this.
- People forget to carry the printouts quite often and the consequences are meaningless. The importance given to the actual printout over whether the payment is done, whether the person is present is mind-boggling.
So here is a simple business idea for any willing soul, a ticket printing machine that accepts the PNR number and secret code (just so that anybody else wouldn’t print your ticket) along with a 5 rupee coin and prints out the ticket in return.
Here is how this can work,
- First up, when you reserve an e-ticket at IRCTC or other partner sites (like cleartrip or airdeccan.net etc.), you will mention a 4 digit pass code as well
- Then you show up at the station (well, to begin with the idea can be implemented in large train stations like Chennai central, SBC, Mumbai CST etc.), fetch out a 5 rupee coin and put it in the slot of ticket printing machine
- Then you will enter the PNR code and passcode using the touch screen. The system will contact the partner site (like IRCTC etc.) and fetch the ticket printout for you
- Then it will fire the printout from the connected printer, you grab it and move towards your respective platform
I think the best companies to implement this could be banks, they have atms near transportation places (like railway stations, airports etc.), they have computer, network connection, paper and printing mechanism ready and they are already partners with travel sites (like IRCTC, cleartrip, makemytrip etc.). Better still, they need not even charge money from you, instead they can take the money from your debit / credit card. This way they could remove the need for passcode as well.
What do you think?
11 Responses
Ciao Hui,
Collecting Excel tricks under the title “Notable Excel Websites (Non-MVP) Edition” is a brilliant idea…
Thank you in the name of all The FrankensTeam.
On our site there is a box with a picture and text highlighting:
This is a no-MVP site
we think ourselves “bad boys” a bit 🙂
For those who would like to know why our site is a no-MVP site, enough to click on the link:
http://goo.gl/lxDszY
Thank you again!
Thanks a lot
I really enjoyed this (newsletter). I must admit that I rarely read an Excel newsletter (and I subscribe to quite a few) all the way though, but this grabbed my attention and before I realized it, I was engrossed in it. I must also admit that most of this I don’t understand, yet. But, it excites me when I do learn something new in Excel. I can’t wait to see how much of this I can implement into my (constantly-evolving) ‘House Budget’ & ‘Family Medical’ worksheets that I have developed over the past few years! I sure hope to see more of these type of newsletters in the future! Thanks!
Thanks for doing this Hui! I appreciate being included.
I like Tom’s tip a lot. I posted about a tool I wrote to automate this at http://yoursumbuddy.com/tables-edit-query-dialog/
EXCELLENT !
Hui, This post is Superb! More over I have always been a fan of Roberto’s work and have learnt a lot from him.
Here are some of my recent contributions
1. Customising markers in a chart – http://www.goodly.co.in/customize-markers-in-a-chart/
2. Charting Hacks to work faster – http://www.goodly.co.in/5-charting-hacks-to-help-you-work-faster/
3. 7 Date formulas to make life easy – http://www.goodly.co.in/date-formulas-in-excel/
4. Customised scrollbar using VBA – http://www.goodly.co.in/customized-scroll-bar-in-excel/
5. Adding Direct Legends – http://www.goodly.co.in/customized-scroll-bar-in-excel/
Hope everyone enjoys!
I like the Excel Ninja Menus.
1. Select a cell or range then move till the 4-way cross appears. Right-Click and drag the selection to another place in the worksheet then, like a ninja, a menu full of skills and throwing stars pops up allowing me to do all kinds of awesomeness.
2. When you click the fill box on a Date and right click and drag it down, a lot of amazing Date options pop up.
I also brand my Excel to remind myself that I’m awesome. In my personal macro workbook I place the following code.
Private Sub Workbook_Open()
Application.Caption = “SuperKrishna’s Awesomeness”
End Sub
My favorite tip goes along with #17. If you try to copy subtotaled data (and in earlier Excel versions filtered data),when you paste it all the data displays instead of just the summarized data.
To get around this, select your summarized data, click on Find and Select tab and then select Go to Special. Click Visible cells Only and click OK. Now paste and you will see that only the summarized data has been copied.
You can also go CTRL+G and then click the Special icon at the bottom of the dialog box.
What a great idea, Chandoo! I’d love to be included in your next edition:) Perhaps a VBA exclusive version?
@Ryan
I will review this concept about 6 months out from the original post and be sure to keep your site in mind
Hui…
That sounds great, Hui:) I just realized I gave credit to Chandoo for the idea and I should have attributed it to you.
Sorry about that!