New York Metropolis horse-drawn carriages will likely be using into the sundown in lower than two years after metropolis leaders voted Thursday to ban the apply following the demise of an 18-year-old vacationer who was killed throughout a trip in Central Park over the summer season.
The Metropolis Council voted 40 to 7 with two abstentions on Romanch’s Regulation, which might prohibit the issuance of latest licenses used within the operation of horse-drawn cabs and part out the carriages by June 1, 2028. The horses could be prohibited from being offered to slaughterhouses, underneath the invoice.
Carriage horse driver Aparicio waits for purchasers in Central Park, October 14, 2026 in New York Metropolis.
Spencer Platt/Getty Pictures
The vote, which is veto-proof, was met with reward by animal rights teams and park advocates who’ve lengthy referred to as for the ban citing a number of incidents the place horses crashed or precipitated disturbances. Nevertheless, the union representing horse-drawn carriage drivers have threatened authorized motion.
Earlier New York Metropolis Mayors Invoice de Blasio and Eric Adams each pushed for the ban throughout their tenures, nevertheless, there was not sufficient help within the Metropolis Council.
The dialogue picked up in the summertime after Romanch Mahajan, an 18-year-old Indian vacationer, was killed after a horse acquired uncontrolled with the carriage and the sufferer’s household nonetheless inside.
The carriage clipped the wheel of one other carriage and toppled, in line with investigators.
Sovia Thukral, middle, aunt of Romanch Mahajan attends a press convention forward of the vote to ban horse carriages in Central Park, Oct. 22, 2026, in New York Metropolis.
Yuki Iwamura/AP Picture
Mahajan’s aunt and uncle had been available for the vote.
In previous situations, vacationers and different parkgoers had been injured when horses ran unfastened, together with one occasion in January the place the horse crashed into cars.
Metropolis Council Speaker Julie Menin mentioned earlier than the vote was solid that the carriages had turn out to be a security threat.
“They do not belong in an space that pulls 42 million folks a 12 months, pulling a 1,000-pound carriage in file warmth,” she mentioned.
Below the invoice, a “workforce transition program” will likely be arrange for the horse-drawn carriage drivers, who’re unionized. This system will embrace job placement, coaching, profession counseling and monetary compensation.
The Central Park Conservancy, which operates the park and has pushed for the ban for years, praised the choice.
Mahajan’s demise “was the ninth carriage-related incident in simply over a 12 months—a quantity we couldn’t ignore because the stewards and caretakers of Central Park,” the conservancy mentioned in a press release.
Demonstrators collect forward of a vote on Romanch’s Regulation, laws that might part out horse-drawn carriages in Central Park, exterior Metropolis Corridor in New York Metropolis, October 22, 2026.
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
The Transport Staff Union, which represents the roughly 150 horse-drawn carriage drivers, protested exterior Metropolis Corridor Thursday and despatched a letter the day earlier than to town’s legislation division informing them that they may search a brief restraining order “the minute the ink dries.”
“We’ll see them in courtroom,” Alexander Kemp, the executive vice chairman for TWU Native 100 mentioned in a press release after the vote. “This invoice is blatantly unconstitutional, offering nothing however a plan to draft a plan. There’s nothing concrete for lots of of employees, carriage house owners and relations who face complete financial devastation.”
