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NSW authorities have issued a fine against an American social media personality and handed out two traffic infringement notices for reported reckless operation after a swarm of e-bike riders gathered on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the busy commute on a weekday.

The Incident: An Illegal Gathering

A group of around 40 people operating e-bikes and motorcycles travelled along the bridge’s main deck, where cycling is prohibited. The riders then turned around and traveled through the downtown area and Haymarket.

"There was a risk of people to be injured and killed," stated NSW police assistant commissioner David Driver on the following day.

Law enforcement said they did not immediately pursue the group out of safety concerns but instead located the group at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the Botanic Gardens, at which point they broke up.

Penalties Issued for Influencer

On Saturday, authorities announced they had served the American online personality who goes by the influencer, twenty-six, with two violation tickets for negligent driving (with no death or previous bodily harm), with a fine of over five hundred dollars and three demerit points each, in relation to the bridge ride-out. They added that inquiries were continuing.

The personality is said to have more than 3.4m followers on one platform and more than 1.2m on Instagram.

Creator's Response

The content creator gave comments to a local publication this week following the event gained traction on digital platforms, stating he regretted giving "the biking community" a negative image.

"I accept the blame. It was among the safest ride-outs I’ve ever seen," 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. So when I decided to do a meet and greet it was not meant to include a ride-out, it was just to say hi near the bridge."

"I’m unfamiliar with the city, it was my fault we ended up on the bridge and I had a decision to make: either the group rides the full length of the bridge and comes back, an illegal act. Or we reverse, essentially, before entering the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to go back."

Broader Context on Electric Bike Rules

The increase of electric bicycles on streets across the country has prompted growing calls for stricter rules. The federal health minister, the minister, recently said that illegal ebikes 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 ERs are truly severe," the minister stated. "We’ve got to make sure we prevent these things coming into the country [and] officers are given the powers to crack down, to confiscate them, to destroy them, to dispose of them."

NSW reported over two hundred injuries associated with ebikes in 2024. But, in the initial half of the following year, that figure surged to two hundred thirty-three injuries plus four fatalities.