New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is backing a plan that would bring the city’s iconic horse-drawn carriage industry to an end after generations of rides through Central Park. Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin reached an agreement Tuesday clearing the way for a council vote on the ban. If approved, horse-drawn carriage operations would become illegal beginning June 1st, 2028. The City Council is scheduled to vote on the proposal on October 22nd.
The legislation, known as Romanch’s Law, is named for Romanch Mahajan, an 18-year-old tourist from India who suffered fatal injuries in a carriage accident in June. The horse reportedly bolted, collided with another carriage and overturned in Central Park. The proposal gained momentum following Mahajan’s death and another incident involving a carriage horse named Deniz, which collapsed and died days earlier. The Central Park Conservancy said the fatal crash involving Mahajan was the eighth horse-related incident in or around the park over roughly 13 months.
“The horse carriage industry is coming to an end in New York City,” Mamdani announced in a post on X. “Our administration will make sure workers and owners are protected, and the horses are safe.” His promise to protect those workers comes as the Transport Workers Union warns that the legislation contains no guarantee of compensation for carriage owners or employees. The industry has provided work for generations of drivers, stable hands and small-business owners while remaining one of Central Park’s most recognizable tourist attractions.
Under the agreement, city agencies would have until April 1st, 2027, to prepare a workforce transition plan for people whose jobs would be eliminated. The plan would include career counseling, training, job placement and referrals to other transportation or tourism positions, according to Fox News. Officials would also be directed to consider payments for carriage owners and assistance with retiring the horses. The word “consider” is important because the legislation doesn’t guarantee that carriage owners will receive any compensation.
Transport Workers Union International President John Samuelsen blasted the proposal for offering workers little more than promises of future assistance. “Council Speaker Menin’s bill has no meaningful economic relief for workers,” Samuelsen said. “It only says the city should prepare a worker transition plan by April 2027 and include weak measures like job fairs and job counseling.” He also accused Menin of using Mahajan’s death to create a public-safety justification for eliminating the industry.
“Council Speaker Menin used the tragic death of a tourist to contrive a public safety crisis,” Samuelsen said. “This is disgraceful political opportunism, and Zohran should not simply go along with it, particularly when immigrant families’ livelihoods are being destroyed.” The union has called for tougher examinations, improved training and stronger safety rules for carriage drivers instead of abolishing the business. Those proposed reforms would allow the attraction to continue while directly addressing the conduct and conditions that could lead to accidents.
Mahajan’s parents previously addressed the City Council through a recorded statement and argued that an earlier ban could have prevented their son’s death. His father, Deepak Mahajan, said the family believes completely eliminating horse-drawn carriage rides is the only way to prevent another fatality. Animal-rights organization PETA celebrated the agreement after campaigning for years to shut down the carriage industry.
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“This is long overdue, and it can’t come quickly enough,” PETA representative Ashley Byrne told Fox News Digital. Central Park Conservancy President and CEO Betsy Smith also supported the proposal, describing the organization’s position as a matter of public safety. “We hope carriages can be phased out efficiently and humanely so that no one else ever suffers the fate of Romanch Mahajan,” Smith said.
Menin said New York can respect its traditions while deciding that an industry has outlived its place in the city. “We can honor our city’s traditions while recognizing when it’s time to move forward in the interest of public safety, protecting workers, and strengthening our city’s economic vitality,” she said. TWU Local 100 has urged officials to adopt tougher driver examinations, enhanced training and additional safety regulations rather than close the industry. If the council approves Romanch’s Law on October 22nd, carriage owners and workers will have less than two years to prepare for the June 2028 shutdown.
Featured image credit: Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)., CC BY-SA 4.0 <https:/ /creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons