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NSW police have levied a penalty against an US-based online influencer and handed out two driving violation citations for alleged negligent driving after a large group of e-bike riders gathered on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the busy commute on a weekday.

The Event: A Prohibited Ride

A group of approximately 40 individuals riding electric bikes and motorbikes proceeded along the bridge’s main deck, an area where bicycle riding is banned. The riders then turned around and traveled through the city’s CBD and Haymarket.

"There was potential for serious injury or fatalities," stated a senior police official David Driver on Wednesday.

Law enforcement said they did not chase right away the group due to concerns for public safety but instead located the group at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the city gardens, where they dispersed.

Fines Imposed for Influencer

Later in the week, police announced they had issued the US social media influencer who goes by Sur Ronster, 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, connected to the bridge ride-out. They added that the investigation is ongoing.

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

Influencer's Comments

The content creator gave comments to a local publication this week following the event 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. That was among the safest ride-outs I have witnessed," 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 was not meant to include a ride-out, it was just to say hi under the bridge."

"I did not know the area well, 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 comes back, an illegal act. Or we turn around, basically, before entering the bridge. I chose at the time to go back."

National Debate on Electric Bike Rules

The spate of electric bicycles on streets across the country has sparked increasing demands for stricter rules. 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 since the invention of the early bicycle [but] the harm that are presenting at our ERs are truly severe," he said. "We’ve got to ensure we prevent these things entering the country [and] police are given the authority to crack down, to take them away, to crush them, to dispose of them."

NSW reported over two hundred injuries related to ebikes in the previous year. But, in the initial half of the following year, that number jumped to 233 injuries plus four fatalities.