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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 reckless operation following a swarm of e-bike riders converged on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during peak-hour traffic 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 riders then turned around and traveled through the downtown area and a nearby district.

"There was a risk of people to be injured and killed," stated NSW police assistant commissioner the officer on Wednesday.

Law enforcement indicated they did not immediately pursue the group out of safety concerns but instead located the group at a scenic Sydney lookout near the city gardens, at which point they broke up.

Fines Imposed for Content Creator

On Saturday, authorities announced they had issued the US social media influencer known as the influencer, 26, with two traffic infringement notices for careless operation (not involving death or prior injury), carrying a fine of over five hundred dollars and penalty points per notice, connected to the bridge ride-out. Officials noted that inquiries were continuing.

The influencer reportedly has more than 3.4m followers on one platform and more than 1.2m on Instagram.

Influencer's Comments

The online figure spoke with a major newspaper recently following the event spread rapidly on digital platforms, saying he was sorry for giving "bike life" a negative image.

"I accept the blame. That was among the safest ride-outs I have witnessed," he said. "I’m coming here as a guest, and I intend to abide by the laws and norms of the city. When I decided to do a meet and greet it did not involve a ride-out, it was just to greet people near the bridge."

"I did not know the area well, 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 comes back, which is a crime. Or we turn around, essentially, before entering the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to turn around."

National Debate on Electric Bike Rules

The spate of e-bikes on streets across the country has sparked growing calls for regulation. A senior government official, Mark Butler, commented that non-compliant electric bikes were a "total menace on the road."

"Kids have done stupid things on bikes ever since the early bicycle [but] the injuries that are presenting at our hospital emergency departments are absolutely devastating," the minister stated. "We’ve got to ensure we prevent these things entering the country [and] officers are granted the powers to crack down, to take them away, to destroy them, to dispose of them."

The state recorded over two hundred injuries associated with ebikes in the previous year. But, in the first seven months of the following year, that number jumped to 233 injuries plus four fatalities.