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NSW authorities have issued a fine against an US-based online influencer and handed out two driving violation citations for reported negligent driving after a swarm of electric bicycle users gathered on the famous Sydney landmark during peak-hour traffic on a weekday.

The Incident: An Illegal Gathering

A group of approximately 40 people riding electric bikes and motorbikes travelled along the primary roadway of the bridge, where cycling is prohibited. The riders subsequently reversed direction and rode through the downtown area and a nearby district.

"This had a risk of people to be injured and killed," remarked NSW police assistant commissioner David Driver on Wednesday.

Police indicated they did not chase right away the group due to concerns for public safety but rather found the group at a scenic Sydney lookout near the city gardens, at which point they broke up.

Fines Imposed for Influencer

Later in the week, police announced they had served the US social media influencer known as Sur Ronster, 26, with two violation tickets for negligent driving (not involving death or prior injury), with a penalty of over five hundred dollars and penalty points each, connected to the bridge incident. They added that the investigation is ongoing.

The personality reportedly has over 3.4 million subscribers on one platform and over 1.2m on the social media app.

Creator's Response

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

"I accept the blame. It was one of the safest ride-outs I’ve ever seen," he said. "I’m coming here as a guest, so I’m going to come here respecting the rules and standards of Sydney. When I decided to do a meet and greet it was not meant to include a ride-out, it was just to say hi under the bridge."

"I’m unfamiliar with the city, I am to blame we found ourselves 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 turn around, basically, before we’re on the bridge. I chose at the time to turn around."

National Debate on E-Bike Regulation

The spate of electric bicycles on streets across the country has prompted increasing demands for regulation. The federal health minister, Mark Butler, recently said that illegal ebikes were a "total menace on the road."

"Young people have engaged in stupid things on bikes since the invention of the penny-farthing [but] the injuries that are coming into our ERs are absolutely devastating," he said. "We must ensure we prevent these things coming into the country [and] police are granted the powers to take strong action, to take them away, to destroy them, to dispose of them."

NSW reported 226 injuries related to electric bikes in 2024. However, in the first seven months of the following year, that figure jumped to two hundred thirty-three injuries plus four deaths.