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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 negligent driving after a large group of electric bicycle users gathered on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the busy commute on a weekday.

The Event: An Illegal Gathering

A gathering of approximately 40 people riding e-bikes and motorcycles proceeded along the primary roadway of the bridge, an area where bicycle riding is banned. The riders subsequently reversed direction and traveled through the city’s CBD and a nearby district.

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

Law enforcement indicated they did not immediately pursue the group out of concerns for public safety but instead located the assembly at a scenic Sydney lookout near the Botanic Gardens, where they dispersed.

Fines Imposed for Influencer

Later in the week, authorities announced they had issued the American online personality known as the influencer, 26, with two violation tickets for careless operation (not involving death or prior injury), carrying a penalty of over five hundred dollars and penalty points per notice, connected to the bridge ride-out. Officials noted that the investigation is ongoing.

The personality reportedly has over 3.4m subscribers on YouTube and more than 1.2m on Instagram.

Influencer's Comments

The online figure gave comments to a major newspaper this week after the incident spread rapidly on news sites and social media, saying he regretted giving "the biking community" a negative image.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. It was one of the safest gatherings I’ve ever seen," he said. "I am a visitor here, so I’m going to come here respecting the laws and norms of the city. So when I decided to do a public meeting it did not involve a ride-out, it was just to greet people near the bridge."

"I did not know the area well, I am to blame we found ourselves on the bridge and I had a decision to make: 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."

National Debate on Electric Bike Rules

The spate of electric bicycles on streets across the country has sparked increasing demands for regulation. A senior government official, the minister, commented that illegal ebikes were a "total menace on the road."

"Young people have engaged in reckless acts on bikes since the invention of the penny-farthing [but] the injuries that are coming into our hospital emergency departments are truly severe," the minister stated. "We must make sure we prevent these things entering the country [and] officers are granted the authority to crack down, to confiscate them, to crush them, to dispose of them."

NSW recorded 226 injuries associated with ebikes in 2024. But, in the initial half of the following year, that number jumped to 233 injuries plus four fatalities.