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NSW 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 converged on the famous Sydney landmark during the busy commute on Tuesday.

The Event: An Illegal Gathering

A group of approximately 40 people operating electric bikes and motorbikes travelled along the bridge’s main deck, where cycling is prohibited. The assembly subsequently reversed direction and rode through the downtown area and a nearby district.

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

Law enforcement said they did not immediately pursue the riders out of concerns for public safety but instead located the group at a scenic Sydney lookout near the city gardens, where they dispersed.

Penalties Issued for Content Creator

Later in the week, police announced they had served the American online personality known as Sur Ronster, 26, with two violation tickets for negligent driving (not involving death or prior injury), carrying a penalty of over five hundred dollars and three demerit points each, connected to the bridge incident. They added that the investigation is ongoing.

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

Creator's Response

The content creator gave comments to a local publication this week after the incident gained traction on digital platforms, saying he regretted giving "the biking community" a negative image.

"I accept the blame. It was among the safest ride-outs I have witnessed," he told the publication. "I am a visitor here, and I intend to come here respecting the rules and standards of the city. When I decided to do a public meeting it was not meant to include a ride-out, it was just to greet people under the bridge."

"I’m unfamiliar with the city, 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 turns around, an illegal act. Or we reverse, basically, before entering the bridge. I chose at the time to go back."

National Debate on Electric Bike Rules

The spate of e-bikes on streets across the country has prompted growing calls 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 since the invention of the penny-farthing [but] the harm that are coming into our ERs are truly severe," he stated. "We’ve got to ensure we prevent these things coming into the country [and] officers are given the powers to take strong action, to confiscate them, to crush them, to destroy them."

NSW recorded over two hundred injuries related to ebikes in the previous year. However, in the first seven months of the following year, that number surged to 233 injuries plus four deaths.