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New South Wales police have issued a fine against an US-based online influencer and handed out two driving violation citations for reported reckless operation after a swarm of e-bike riders gathered on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during peak-hour traffic on a weekday.

The Event: An Illegal Gathering

A gathering of approximately 40 people riding electric bikes and motorbikes travelled along the bridge’s main deck, where cycling is prohibited. The riders subsequently reversed direction and traveled through the city’s CBD and Haymarket.

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

Police said they did not chase right away the riders due to safety concerns but rather found the group at a scenic Sydney lookout near the city gardens, where they dispersed.

Fines Imposed for Content Creator

On Saturday, police stated they had served the American online personality known as Sur Ronster, twenty-six, with two violation tickets for negligent driving (with no death or previous bodily harm), with a penalty of over five hundred dollars and three demerit points per notice, in relation to the bridge ride-out. They added that the investigation is ongoing.

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

Creator's Response

The content creator spoke with a major newspaper this week following the event spread rapidly on digital platforms, saying he was sorry for giving "the biking community" a negative image.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. It 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 laws and norms of Sydney. So when I decided to do a meet and greet it did not involve a ride-out, it was just to greet people under the bridge."

"I’m unfamiliar with the city, it was my fault we found ourselves on the bridge and I had two choices: either the group rides the full length of the bridge and turns around, an illegal act. Or we turn around, essentially, before we’re on the bridge. I chose at the time to turn around."

Broader Context on Electric Bike Rules

The increase of e-bikes on roads nationwide has sparked growing calls for regulation. A senior government official, the minister, commented that illegal ebikes were a "total menace on the road."

"Young people have engaged in stupid things on bikes ever since the penny-farthing [but] the injuries that are coming into our ERs are truly severe," the minister said. "We’ve got to make sure we stop these things entering the country [and] police are granted the powers to take strong action, to take them away, to crush them, to destroy them."

NSW recorded 226 injuries associated with electric bikes in 2024. But, in the first seven months of the following year, that figure jumped to two hundred thirty-three injuries plus four fatalities.