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NSW police have levied a penalty against an American social media personality and served two driving violation citations for alleged negligent driving after a large group of e-bike riders converged on the famous Sydney landmark during the busy commute on a weekday.

The Event: An Illegal Gathering

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

"This had potential for people to be injured and killed," stated NSW police assistant commissioner David Driver on the following day.

Police indicated they did not chase right away the riders out of safety concerns but instead located the assembly at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the city gardens, at which point they broke up.

Penalties Issued for Influencer

Later in the week, authorities stated they had served the US social media influencer known as Sur Ronster, twenty-six, with two violation tickets for careless operation (not involving death or prior injury), carrying a fine of $562 and three demerit points each, in relation to the bridge ride-out. They added that the investigation is ongoing.

The personality is said to have more than 3.4 million followers on YouTube and over 1.2 million on Instagram.

Creator's Response

The online figure spoke with a major newspaper this week after the incident gained traction on news sites and social media, saying he regretted giving "the biking community" a bad reputation.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. That was among the safest ride-outs I have witnessed," he said. "I am a visitor here, so I’m going to abide by the rules and standards of the city. 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 near 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 completes the entirety of the bridge and comes back, an illegal act. Or we turn around, basically, before entering the bridge. I chose at the time to turn around."

Broader Context on Electric Bike Rules

The spate of e-bikes on streets across the country has prompted growing calls for regulation. The federal health minister, Mark Butler, commented that illegal ebikes were a "complete hazard on the road."

"Young people have engaged in stupid things on bikes ever since the penny-farthing [but] the injuries that are presenting at our hospital emergency departments are absolutely devastating," he stated. "We’ve got to make sure we stop these things entering the country [and] police are granted the authority to crack down, to take them away, to crush them, to dispose of them."

The state recorded over two hundred injuries related to ebikes in 2024. But, in the initial half of 2025, that number surged to 233 injuries plus four fatalities.