🔗 Share this article

New South Wales authorities have issued a fine against an US-based online influencer and served two driving violation citations for reported reckless operation following a large group of electric bicycle users gathered on the famous Sydney landmark during the busy commute on a weekday.

The Incident: An Illegal Gathering

A gathering of around 40 people riding electric bikes and motorbikes proceeded along the primary roadway of the bridge, where cycling is prohibited. The assembly then turned around and traveled through the city’s CBD and Haymarket.

"This had potential for serious injury or fatalities," stated NSW police assistant commissioner David Driver on Wednesday.

Police said they did not chase right away the group out of concerns for public safety 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

Later in the week, police announced they had served the American online personality known as the influencer, 26, with two traffic infringement notices for careless operation (with no death or previous bodily harm), carrying a fine 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 is said to have more than 3.4 million subscribers on one platform and over 1.2m on the social media app.

Influencer's Comments

The content creator gave comments to a major newspaper recently following the event gained traction on news sites and social media, saying he regretted giving "the biking community" a bad reputation.

"I accept the blame. It was among the safest gatherings 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 Sydney. When I decided to do a meet and greet it was not meant to include a ride-out, it was just to greet people under the bridge."

"I’m unfamiliar with the city, 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 turn around, basically, before we’re on the bridge. I chose at the time to go back."

National Debate on Electric Bike Rules

The spate of e-bikes on roads nationwide has prompted increasing demands for stricter rules. The federal health minister, the minister, commented that illegal ebikes were a "complete hazard on the road."

"Kids have done stupid things on bikes since the invention of the penny-farthing [but] the harm that are coming into our ERs are absolutely devastating," the minister said. "We’ve got to ensure we stop these things coming into the country [and] police are given the authority to crack down, to confiscate them, to destroy them, to dispose of them."

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