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New South Wales police have levied a penalty against an US-based online influencer and handed out two driving violation citations for reported negligent driving after a large group of e-bike riders converged on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the busy commute on Tuesday.

The Incident: A Prohibited Ride

A group of approximately 40 individuals riding electric bikes and motorbikes proceeded along the primary roadway of the bridge, where cycling is prohibited. The riders then turned around and traveled through the downtown area and a nearby district.

"This had a risk of serious injury or fatalities," stated a senior police official David Driver on Wednesday.

Law enforcement said they did not immediately pursue the group out of concerns for public safety but rather found the group at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the city gardens, at which point they broke up.

Penalties Issued for Influencer

On Saturday, police announced they had served the American online personality known as the influencer, twenty-six, with two traffic infringement notices for careless operation (not involving death or prior injury), with a penalty of $562 and penalty points each, connected to the bridge ride-out. They added that inquiries were continuing.

The influencer is said to have more than 3.4m subscribers on YouTube and over 1.2 million on the social media app.

Creator's Response

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

"I accept the blame. It was among the safest ride-outs I’ve ever seen," he said. "I am a visitor here, and I intend 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 under the bridge."

"I did not know the area well, I am to blame we found ourselves on the bridge and I had two choices: either the group completes the entirety of the bridge and turns around, an illegal act. Or we reverse, essentially, before we’re on the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to turn around."

National Debate on E-Bike Regulation

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

"Young people have engaged in stupid things on bikes ever since the penny-farthing [but] the harm that are presenting at our hospital emergency departments are truly severe," the minister said. "We must make sure we prevent these things entering the country [and] police are given the powers to take strong action, to take them away, to destroy them, to destroy them."

The state reported over two hundred injuries associated with ebikes in 2024. However, in the first seven months of the following year, that number jumped to two hundred thirty-three injuries plus four fatalities.