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NSW police have issued a fine against an American social media personality and served two traffic infringement notices for reported negligent driving following a large group of e-bike riders gathered on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during peak-hour traffic on Tuesday.

The Incident: An Illegal Gathering

A group of approximately 40 individuals operating electric bikes and motorbikes proceeded along the primary roadway of the bridge, an area where bicycle riding is banned. The riders subsequently reversed direction and rode through the downtown area and Haymarket.

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

Law enforcement indicated they did not chase right away the group due to safety concerns but instead located the assembly at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the Botanic Gardens, at which point they broke up.

Penalties Issued for Influencer

On Saturday, police stated they had served the American online personality who goes by Sur Ronster, 26, with two violation tickets for careless operation (with no death or previous bodily harm), with a fine of $562 and penalty points each, connected to the bridge incident. Officials noted that the investigation is ongoing.

The influencer reportedly has more than 3.4m subscribers on YouTube and over 1.2 million on the social media app.

Influencer's Comments

The online figure gave comments to a major newspaper recently after the incident gained traction on news sites and social media, saying he was sorry for giving "the biking community" a bad reputation.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. It was one of the safest ride-outs I’ve ever seen," he said. "I’m coming here as a guest, so I’m going to abide by the rules and standards of the city. So when I decided to do a public meeting it did not involve a ride-out, it was just to say hi under the bridge."

"I’m unfamiliar with the city, it was my fault we ended up on the bridge and I had a decision to make: whether the group rides the full length of the bridge and comes back, 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 Electric Bike Rules

The spate of e-bikes on streets across the country has sparked increasing demands for regulation. A senior government official, the minister, commented that non-compliant electric bikes were a "total menace on the road."

"Kids have done stupid things on bikes ever since the penny-farthing [but] the harm that are coming into our hospital emergency departments are truly severe," he stated. "We’ve got to make sure we stop these things coming into the country [and] police are granted the authority to crack down, to confiscate them, to crush them, to destroy them."

The state recorded 226 injuries associated with ebikes in 2024. But, in the initial half of 2025, that figure surged to two hundred thirty-three injuries plus four deaths.