US Social Media Personality Fined After Mass Electric Bike Ride on Iconic Australian Bridge
New South Wales police have issued a fine against an American social media personality and served two traffic infringement notices for reported reckless operation after a swarm of electric bicycle users gathered on the famous Sydney landmark during peak-hour traffic on a weekday.
The Incident: A Prohibited Ride
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 then turned around and rode through the city’s CBD and a nearby district.
"There was a risk of serious injury or fatalities," stated NSW police assistant commissioner David Driver on the following day.
Police indicated they did not chase right away the riders out of concerns for public safety but rather found the assembly at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the city gardens, where they dispersed.
Penalties Issued for Influencer
On Saturday, police stated they had served the American online personality known as the influencer, twenty-six, with two violation tickets for careless operation (with no death or previous bodily harm), carrying a penalty of over five hundred dollars and penalty points each, in relation to the bridge ride-out. They added that the investigation is ongoing.
The personality is said to have over 3.4m subscribers on YouTube and over 1.2m on the social media app.
Influencer's Comments
The content creator spoke with 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 negative image.
"I accept the blame. It was among the safest gatherings I have witnessed," he told the publication. "I am a visitor here, and I intend 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 did not know the area well, it was my fault we ended up on the bridge and I had a decision to make: either the group rides the full length of the bridge and comes back, which is a crime. Or we reverse, essentially, before we’re on the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to turn around."
Broader Context on E-Bike Regulation
The spate of electric bicycles on streets across the country has prompted increasing demands for stricter rules. A senior government official, Mark Butler, commented that illegal ebikes 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 injuries that are coming into our hospital emergency departments are absolutely devastating," he said. "We’ve got to make sure we stop these things coming into the country [and] officers are given the powers to crack down, to confiscate them, to destroy them, to dispose of them."
The state recorded 226 injuries associated with electric bikes in the previous year. However, in the initial half of 2025, that number jumped to two hundred thirty-three injuries plus four deaths.