NEW YORK, N.Y. — The New York City Council is scheduled to vote Thursday on a bill that would bring an end to horse-drawn carriage rides in Central Park, closing out a fight over the industry that has dragged on for close to three decades.
Known as Romanch’s Law, the measure would stop the city from issuing any new carriage licenses and would bar all carriages from operating starting June 1, 2028. It carries 29 Council co-sponsors, a majority of the body, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said he backs it. Earlier attempts to shut the trade down over the past decade fell short.
The bill is named for Romanch Mahajan, an 18-year-old visitor from India who died on June 17 after a horse bolted and he was thrown from a carriage. His family has since put the city on notice of a $50 million claim and has come out in favor of the ban. Council Speaker Julie Menin called a hearing on the industry right after his death, and that session took place at City Hall on July 14.
Menin has argued that a crowded park full of walkers, cyclists and e-bike riders has turned the tradition into a public safety risk. Council Member Christopher Marte, the bill’s sponsor, said his office moved fast to line up a broad majority after this summer’s deaths.
The proposal also orders the mayor’s administration to set up job help for drivers and stable workers, including referrals, career counseling, hiring events and tuition aid, and to look at compensating carriage businesses. The city would have until April to produce a transition plan, and the horses could not be sent to slaughter.
Only 68 carriage licenses exist. Because they are capped and rarely change hands, they tend to be handed down through families, and a single one can be valued in the hundreds of thousands, and the ban is expected to cost hundreds of jobs. The Transport Workers Union has come out against it.
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