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NSW police have issued a fine against an US-based online influencer and handed out two driving violation citations for reported negligent driving following a swarm of e-bike riders converged on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the busy commute on Tuesday.

The Event: A Prohibited Ride

A gathering of approximately 40 individuals riding electric bikes and motorbikes travelled along the bridge’s main deck, an area where bicycle riding is banned. The riders then turned around and rode through the city’s CBD and a nearby district.

"This had a risk of people to be injured and killed," remarked NSW police assistant commissioner the officer on the following day.

Police said they did not immediately pursue the riders out of concerns for public safety but rather found the group at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the city gardens, where they dispersed.

Penalties Issued for Content Creator

On Saturday, authorities stated they had served the US social media influencer who goes by the influencer, twenty-six, with two traffic infringement notices for negligent driving (with no death or previous bodily harm), carrying a fine of $562 and three demerit points each, in relation to the bridge incident. They added that inquiries were continuing.

The personality reportedly has more than 3.4 million followers on YouTube and more than 1.2m on the social media app.

Influencer's Comments

The content creator gave comments to a major newspaper recently after the incident spread rapidly on news sites and social media, stating he regretted giving "the biking community" a bad reputation.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. It was among the safest ride-outs I have witnessed," he told the publication. "I’m coming here as a guest, so I’m going to come here respecting the laws and norms of the city. When I decided to do a public meeting it did not involve a ride-out, it was just to say hi under the bridge."

"I’m unfamiliar with the city, I am to blame we ended up on the bridge and I had two choices: whether the group rides the full length of the bridge and comes back, which is a crime. Or we reverse, essentially, before we’re on the bridge. I chose at the time to turn around."

Broader Context on E-Bike Regulation

The spate of electric bicycles on streets across the country has prompted increasing demands for regulation. A senior government official, Mark Butler, recently said that non-compliant electric bikes were a "complete hazard on the road."

"Kids have done stupid things on bikes since the invention of the penny-farthing [but] the harm that are coming into our hospital emergency departments are truly severe," the minister stated. "We must make sure we stop these things entering the country [and] officers are given the powers to crack down, to take them away, to destroy them, to dispose of them."

NSW recorded over two hundred injuries related to ebikes in 2024. But, in the first seven months of the following year, that figure surged to two hundred thirty-three injuries plus four fatalities.