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New South Wales authorities have issued a fine against an US-based online influencer and handed out two driving violation citations for alleged negligent driving following a large group of e-bike riders gathered on the famous Sydney landmark during peak-hour traffic on a weekday.

The Event: A Prohibited Ride

A group 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 rode through the city’s CBD and a nearby district.

"This had a risk of people to be injured and killed," remarked a senior police official the officer on Wednesday.

Law enforcement said they did not immediately pursue the group due to safety concerns 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 stated 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 over five hundred dollars and penalty points per notice, in relation to the bridge incident. They added that the investigation is ongoing.

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

Influencer's Comments

The online figure gave comments to a local publication recently following the event gained traction on news sites and social media, saying he regretted giving "the biking community" a negative image.

"I accept the blame. That was one of the safest ride-outs I’ve ever seen," he told the publication. "I am a visitor here, so I’m going to come here respecting the rules and standards of the city. When I decided to do a public meeting it was not meant to include a group ride, it was just to greet people under the bridge."

"I did not know the area well, it was my fault we found ourselves on the bridge and I had two choices: whether the group completes the entirety of the bridge and comes back, which is a crime. Or we turn around, essentially, before entering the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to go back."

National Debate on Electric Bike Rules

The spate of e-bikes on streets across the country has sparked increasing demands for stricter rules. The federal health minister, Mark Butler, recently said that illegal ebikes were a "complete hazard on the road."

"Kids have done reckless acts on bikes since the invention of the early bicycle [but] the injuries that are presenting at our hospital emergency departments are absolutely devastating," the minister stated. "We’ve got to ensure we prevent these things entering the country [and] police are given the powers to crack down, to take them away, to destroy them, to destroy them."

The state reported 226 injuries related to electric bikes in 2024. But, in the first seven months of the following year, that number surged to 233 injuries plus four deaths.