NYC Council to vote Thursday on ban of Central Park horse-drawn carriages

Ban follows June death of 18-year-old tourist thrown from carriage

The New York City Council is expected to vote Thursday on a bill that would phase out horse-drawn carriage operations in Central Park by June 2028. Mayor Zohran Mamdani backs the proposal and says he will help develop a transition plan for workers in the industry. The legislation is named Romanch’s Law after Romanch Mahajan, an 18-year-old tourist visiting New York with his family from India who died in June after the horse pulling his carriage bolted and he fell out.

Roughly 200 drivers work in Central Park’s carriage industry. The use of carriages has been an at-times controversial tradition for more than 160 years and has become a popular tourist activity.

Scheduled vote and transition terms

The proposal is part of a long-running debate over the carriage industry. New York leaders previously sought a ban under pressure from animal-rights activists but faced pushback from city council members and unions representing the workers. The ban movement found new momentum this summer after Mahajan’s death. The proposed ban also follows Deniz’s death this year; Deniz was a carriage horse that ate a toxic plant in Central Park.

The City Council held a hearing in July and invited community members, including carriage drivers, to comment. The legislation proposes an “industry transition framework” with potential job placement, training, career counseling and financial compensation for those in the business. A spokesperson for Mamdani said his office was involved in planning to find new jobs for the workers. Drivers who spoke at the hearing said carriage workers earn around $60,000 (£44,000) to $70,000 a year.

The Transport Workers Union, which represents the drivers, said the plan did not include guarantees, including compensation, and warned that workers would be “economically wiped out.” The union also raised concerns about a lack of funding for individuals and organizations that eventually take in the horses, arguing that thousands end up at slaughter auctions each year. The bill forbids selling horses for slaughter or similar work.

Safety evidence

Since 1982, 40 horses working in Central Park have died, according to the Manhattan Borough President’s office, which cited causes including overheating and collisions. The Central Park Conservancy, the nonprofit that manages Central Park and supports the carriage ban, said seven “horse-related incidents” occurred in the past 13 months. In May, a driver was taken to the hospital after a spooked horse hit another carriage and tipped it over. In January, a horse named Destiny ran into traffic near the park and caused a multi-car collision.

Ron Tsur, a New York resident, said: “There were a few cases of horses dying in the middle of the park. You can clearly see that they’re not taken care of. That’s not what they’re supposed to be doing.” Several Central Park carriage drivers who spoke to the BBC said they were devoted to their horses and that the rides did not pose a safety risk.

Alexus Lawson, who was nearby when Mahajan fell, called the incident “extremely tragic.” She said that if the city was genuinely concerned about the safety of horse-drawn carriages, it would outlaw them immediately rather than in two years.

Concerns about the horses’ well-being have been raised in New York City for decades. In 1866, after Henry Bergh witnessed the brutal beating of a carriage horse, he established the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to protest horses’ treatment and other instances of animal abuse. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and a coalition of organizations supporting the ban also oppose the carriages. Animal activists viewed the proposed ban as a victory, and many New Yorkers and tourists welcomed it.

Worker and visitor reactions

After petting a carriage horse in Central Park at age five, Lawson became hooked on the activity. Now 28, she has driven a carriage for six years and owns six horses. Lawson said she felt very attached to her horse and to her business as a carriage driver. Since hearing about the city’s vote, she has worried about what would happen to her horse. “What am I supposed to do with my horse?” she asked. “You’re going to tell me I can’t work with her anymore? How am I supposed to ensure her health?”

Lawson said New York City carriages are the most regulated in the country and that the horses enjoy the stimulation. “They look at an animal in harness and they see a trap,” Lawson said of officials pushing for the ban. “They see a job as something that’s terrible. Horses are working animals.” Horses can work up to nine hours a day. They are restricted to certain entrances of the park, where they stand with drivers and wait to be hired. Customers pay $72.22 for a 20-minute ride, plus $28.89 for every extra 10 minutes.

Several drivers who spoke to the BBC said they did not want new jobs and disputed claims that their horses were mistreated. Medet Fidan, a carriage driver for 12 years, said he was similarly attached to his horse and called the mistreatment allegations a joke. “I spend more time with my horses than my wife and my kids,” he said. “They’re telling me I’m abusing my horse? No way.” Fidan said he was angry that officials were passing a ban without talking in person to drivers and others in the industry. “If you don’t listen to me, how can you come and kill my business, destroy my family’s, my livelihood?” he asked.

Vanessa Stolle, a German tourist, said she and her family had horses at home and that carriage horses do not belong in a noisy park pulling passengers. “To stand the whole day here – it’s loud for them and they can’t go to the countryside,” she said. Christian Bauers, another German tourist, disagreed. He remembered seeing the horses when he came to Central Park 20 years ago. “It’s part of the culture of New York,” he said. “Let them stay. It’s cute.”

Jeanne Collopy, an animal lover from Colorado, where she said horses run wild, worried about accidents in the park that have harmed humans and horses. “I know there’s a union and I hate to have people out of work,” she said, adding: “It’s a little bit confining for the horses.” Her husband, Chris Koenigs, said the animals were “wonderful” to look at but were too much of a risk for public safety. He called the teenager’s death that summer “sickening” and a high price to pay for enjoying the horses. “The park is magnificent,” he added. “I can’t help but think, it would be a magnificent park with or without the carriages.”