🔗 Share this article

NSW police have levied a penalty against an US-based online influencer and handed out two traffic infringement notices for reported reckless operation following a swarm of electric bicycle users gathered on the famous Sydney landmark during the busy commute on Tuesday.

The Event: An Illegal Gathering

A group of approximately 40 individuals operating electric bikes and motorbikes travelled along the bridge’s main deck, where cycling is prohibited. The riders subsequently reversed direction and rode through the city’s CBD and Haymarket.

"This had potential for serious injury or fatalities," remarked a senior police official David Driver on Wednesday.

Law enforcement indicated they did not immediately pursue the riders due to safety concerns but rather found the group at a scenic Sydney lookout near the city gardens, at which point they broke up.

Fines Imposed for Influencer

On Saturday, police stated they had issued the American online personality who goes by Sur Ronster, twenty-six, with two violation tickets for negligent driving (with no death or previous bodily harm), with a fine of over five hundred dollars and penalty points each, in relation to the bridge ride-out. Officials noted that inquiries were continuing.

The influencer is said to have over 3.4 million subscribers on YouTube and over 1.2m on Instagram.

Creator's Response

The content creator gave comments to a local publication recently after the incident spread rapidly on news sites and social media, saying he regretted giving "bike life" a bad reputation.

"I accept the blame. That was one of the safest gatherings I’ve ever seen," he said. "I am a visitor here, so I’m going to come here respecting the laws and norms of the city. When I decided to do a meet and greet it was not meant to include a group ride, it was just to say hi near the bridge."

"I’m unfamiliar with the city, it was my fault we found ourselves on the bridge and I had a decision to make: either the group rides the full length of the bridge and turns around, an illegal act. Or we reverse, essentially, before we’re on the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to go back."

Broader Context on E-Bike Regulation

The spate of e-bikes on streets across the country has sparked increasing demands for stricter rules. A senior government official, Mark Butler, recently said that illegal ebikes were a "total menace on the road."

"Kids have done stupid things on bikes ever since the early bicycle [but] the injuries that are coming into our ERs are truly severe," he stated. "We’ve got to make sure we prevent these things entering the country [and] officers are granted the powers to take strong action, to confiscate them, to destroy them, to dispose of them."

NSW recorded over two hundred injuries associated with electric bikes in 2024. But, in the first seven months of 2025, that figure surged to 233 injuries plus four fatalities.