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New South Wales police have levied a penalty against an US-based online influencer and served two driving violation citations for reported reckless operation after a swarm of e-bike riders gathered on the famous Sydney landmark during peak-hour traffic on a weekday.

The Incident: An Illegal Gathering

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

"This had a risk of serious injury or fatalities," remarked a senior police official the officer on Wednesday.

Police indicated they did not immediately pursue the riders out of safety concerns but instead located the assembly at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the city gardens, at which point they broke up.

Penalties Issued for Content Creator

On Saturday, authorities stated they had served the American online personality who goes by the influencer, 26, with two traffic infringement notices for negligent driving (not involving death or prior injury), with a fine of over five hundred dollars and penalty points each, in relation to the bridge incident. Officials noted that the investigation is ongoing.

The influencer is said to have over 3.4m subscribers on one platform and more than 1.2m on Instagram.

Influencer's Comments

The online figure spoke with a local publication this week following the event gained traction on news sites and social media, saying he was sorry for giving "bike life" a negative image.

"I accept the blame. That was among the safest gatherings I’ve ever seen," he told the publication. "I am a visitor here, so I’m going to abide by the laws and norms of the city. 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, I am to blame we found ourselves on the bridge and I had two choices: either the group rides the full length of the bridge and turns around, which is a crime. Or we turn around, basically, before we’re on the bridge. I chose at the time to go back."

National Debate on E-Bike Regulation

The spate of electric bicycles on roads nationwide has prompted increasing demands for stricter rules. The federal health minister, 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 since the invention of the penny-farthing [but] the harm that are coming into our ERs are truly severe," he said. "We’ve got to ensure we prevent these things entering the country [and] police are granted the authority to take strong action, to confiscate them, to crush them, to destroy them."

NSW recorded over two hundred injuries related to electric bikes in the previous year. However, in the first seven months of 2025, that figure jumped to 233 injuries plus four fatalities.