Rajiv's Rental Traffic Test

Learn the six rules that get a goods tempo fined, then pass a two-minute test on your own phone before Rajiv hands you the key.

Who this is for

Rajiv Chouhan runs a tempo and goods carrier stand near Chhawni in Indore. Nine vehicles, four of them chhota haathis, rented by the day to whoever turns up. By seven most mornings there are three or four men at his counter and he knows none of them. The moment that matters is the one where he has the key in his hand, the man in front is in a hurry, and Rajiv still does not know whether this fellow understands a no-entry board.

How the job is done today

Rajiv asks two or three questions out loud while copying the licence number into his register. Is the load height fine, do you know the timings on the market road, have you driven a chhota haathi before. The man says yes to all of it because there are people behind him. A laminated sheet of rules is taped to the wall beside the counter and nobody has read it in two years. When a fine comes, Rajiv finds out on WhatsApp from the driver, usually a photo of the challan and a long voice note about why it was not his fault.

The screens, in order

1. Scan and start — Gets a stranger into the test in one tap from a sticker on the counter, asking only for his name and phone number.
2. Six rule cards — Shows the six things that actually get Rajiv's tempos fined, one card at a time, in Hindi with a picture.
3. The questions — Asks eight questions one after another so nobody can skim to the end and guess.
4. Read this again — Sends a wrong answer straight back to the one card that explains it, before the test carries on.
5. Pass code — Shows the man's name and a four-digit code big enough for Rajiv to read across the counter.
6. This morning's list — Lets Rajiv see who has passed since he opened and check a code by hand when someone's phone has died.

What it keeps track of

• Renter — name, phone number, licence number, which day he came
• Rule card — short heading, three lines of plain Hindi, one picture
• Question — the question, four answers, which one is right, which rule card it comes from
• Attempt — who took it, which day, which questions he got wrong, passed or not, the four-digit code

The one decision that matters

Everything turns on whose phone the test runs on. One way, Rajiv keeps a tablet on the counter and hands it over. The other way, a sticker on the counter carries a square code that a man scans with his own phone. Go with his own phone. At seven there are four men waiting, and a single tablet means three of them stand and watch while one taps, so Rajiv will start reading out the answers just to clear the queue. On their own phones all four can be answering at the same time while Rajiv writes his register, and the rules stay in a man's pocket for the rest of the day.

What to leave out of the first version

Leave out English. Build it in Hindi only. Everyone who stands at that counter reads Hindi, and a language button is one more thing Rajiv has to explain while three men wait. Also leave out any photo of the licence and any payment. Rajiv already copies the licence number into his register and takes the cash in hand, and asking a stranger to upload a photo at seven in the morning is how a two-minute test turns into a ten-minute argument.

How you would know it worked

One morning a man walks up and holds out his phone with the code already on it before Rajiv has said anything, and Rajiv hands over the key without asking his usual three questions. The sheet on the wall stays untouched, because something people actually finish has taken its place.

Build it

Paste this in and let it run.

I rent out tempos and chhota haathis from my stand in Indore and most of the men who come are strangers to me, so I want a small website in Hindi where a man scans a sticker on my counter with his own phone, reads six short cards about load height, no-entry timings on the market road and what to do if a policeman stops him, then answers eight questions one at a time, and if he gets one wrong it shows him that card again before he can carry on. At the end he should see his name and a four-digit code to show me, and I want one page for myself where I can see everyone who passed since morning and type in a code to check it. The whole thing has to be over in about two minutes because there is always a queue.