How the scheme works
A licence on its own does not change anything. What makes this work is the order the pieces arrive in, and one control point most schemes miss.
The harbour comes first
Every electric bike arrives by boat. That is the place to control the numbers.
Before a bike is shipped, the owner applies online with the make, model, motor rating and battery details. The system checks it against the technical ceiling and against the remaining quota. If it passes, a single-use permit is issued and scanned at the landing point. No permit, no landing.
The same gate works in reverse. A bike leaving for good is scanned out, which releases its place in the quota and closes its licence. Without that, the register slowly fills with bikes that are no longer here and the cap stops meaning anything.
This turns the harbour from the leak in the scheme into the point where it is enforced. Everything inland becomes tidying up.
Quota
A scheme without a cap raises money. A scheme with a cap decides how many bikes the island has.
| Category | In force | Proposed cap | Headroom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private | 26 | Not set | - |
| Business | 14 | Not set | - |
| Rental | 22 | 120 | 98 |
| Commercial goods | 6 | 40 | 34 |
| Government and emergency | 3 | Exempt | - |
Rental is where the pressure and the accident risk both sit. If only one cap is set in the first year, it should be that one. Once a cap exists a licence acquires resale value, so licences stay attached to a bike and an owner and cannot be traded on their own.
Sequence
Enforcing on day one against people who have owned a bike for three years would sink the scheme.
- Phase 0Agree the regulationFour to six weeks
Fees, caps, the impound location and enforcement authority are settled. Rental operators are briefed individually, before any public announcement.
- Phase 1Amnesty and censusEight weeks
Every bike already on the island registers at a reduced fee. Mobile desks, including evenings. Nobody is fined. The aim is a complete count, not revenue.
- Phase 2Warnings onlyFour weeks
Officers stop unlicensed bikes, record them and issue written warnings with a deadline. No money changes hands.
- Phase 3Full enforcementOngoing
Fines and impound are live. Harbour import control is live. The inspection cycle begins.
- Phase 4ReviewAt twelve months
Caps, fees and fines reviewed against the violation log, the inspection results and the accident record.
Built for three islands
Desa Gili Indah administers Gili Meno, Gili Air and Gili Trawangan. The registry is built for all three from the start: one system, one set of staff tools, separate plate prefixes, separate quotas and separate revenue lines. Gili Meno runs first. Adding the other two is configuration, not a rebuild.