New South Wales police have fined an American social media personality and issued two traffic infringement notices for reckless driving A group of ebike riders They met on the Sydney Harbor Bridge in heavy traffic on Tuesday.
About 40 people rode ebikes and motorcycles on the main deck of the bridge, where cycling is prohibited. The group then turned around and traveled through the city’s CBD and Haymarket.
At that time, Said to ride out the so-called police “Incredibly irresponsible, stupid and downright dangerous”.
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“It is likely that people will be injured and killed,” NSW Police Assistant Commissioner David Driver said on Wednesday. Police said they did not immediately pursue the riders for safety reasons, but instead spotted the crowd at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the Sydney Botanic Gardens, where they dispersed.
In connection with the bridge ride-out, a US social media influencer known as Sur Ranster, 26, was issued two traffic violation notices for careless driving (without death or previous bodily harm), with a $562 penalty and three demerit points, police said on Saturday. They said the investigation is on.
Ronster has more than 3.4 million followers on the platform and more than 1.2 million on Instagram.
The Guardian has emailed Ranster for comment.
Content creator Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald After the incident quickly spread across news sites and social media this week, he said he regrets giving the “bike life” a bad name.
“I’ll probably take responsibility. It’s one of the safest ride-outs I’ve ever seen,” he told the Herald. “I’m coming here as a guest, so I’m going to respect Sydney’s rules and standards. So when I decided to have a meeting, it wasn’t a ride-out, it was just saying hi to people under the bridge.
“I don’t know the city, it’s my fault we went over the bridge and I had two options: the group completed the entire bridge and turned around, which is a crime. Or we turned around before we got to the bridge. And I decided to turn around at that point.”
A spate of ebikes on streets across the country has prompted growing calls for regulation. Federal Health Minister Mark Butler Friday said Illegal ebikes are a “total menace on the road”.
“Kids have done stupid things on bikes since penny-farting [but] “The injuries coming into our hospital emergency departments are absolutely devastating,” Butler said. [and] The police are given powers to suppress, take away, suppress and destroy them.
226 injuries related to ebikes were reported in NSW in 2024. But, in the first seven months of 2025, that number rose to 233 injuries and four deaths.
