New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced Tuesday that she and Mayor Mamdani have agreed to a deal to abolish the embattled Central Park horse carriage industry starting in 2028, bringing an end to a longstanding city tradition that has come under increasing criticism in recent years.
The Council is expected to vote on the ban at the next full Council meeting next week.
“Horse-drawn carriages have long been part of New York City’s history, but in an increasingly busy Central Park, this tradition has become a growing public safety liability,” Menin said in a statement. “Next week, the Council will take decisive action by voting on [the bill to ban the industry] to protect New Yorkers, visitors, and the horses themselves.”
Menin said the legislation will also include requirements to develop a plan to employ, give job training or career counseling to horse carriage drivers. The news the the bill would be coming to a vote next week was first reported by Politico.
“We have been working closely with the City Council, union partners, carriage drivers, animal welfare advocates, and community leaders to deliver a just transition that protects workers while ending horse-drawn carriages in Central Park once and for all,” Sneha Choudhary, a spokesperson for the mayor, said in a statement.
Efforts to ban the carriages have gone one for decades, as animal rights activists have long criticized the industry. But the death of Romanch Mahajan, an 18-year-old boy killed in Central Park after falling from a runaway carriage horse in June, changed the tide, giving calls to ban the industry more urgency and turning the political tide.
Romanch’s Law, the bill to ban horse carriages from Central Park, is a reworked version of a bill formerly known as Ryder’s Law, named after a carriage horse that collapsed and died in 2022. It would immediately end the issuance of new medallions for carriage horses, and end the industry entirely in the summer of 2028.
The Transport Workers Union, which represents horse owners and carriage drivers, has strongly opposed any moves to do away with the industry and previously indicated it may sue to block a ban. In a statement Tuesday, TWU International President John Samulesen called the bill “reprehensible.”
“Council Speaker Menin used the tragic death of a tourist to contrive a public safety crisis,” Samuelsen continued. “This is disgraceful political opportunism, and Zohran should not simply go along with it, particularly when immigrant families’ livelihoods are being destroyed,” he said in reference to the Mayor.
An updated draft of Roamnch’s bill, reviewed by the Daily News, would require the establishment of an “industry transition plan” by April 2027. That plan would outline steps to help carriage horse workers secure new jobs, including at regional transit agencies or in tourism roles. The plan is also expected to identify educational opportunities — and possible tuition assistance — for displaced drivers.
The updated language would also require “consideration of whether to establish a program to compensate horse drawn cab owners for the value of their horse drawn cab businesses, horse drawn cab licenses, and equipment.”
The details were blasted by the union.
“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.”
“It says the city should ‘consider’ financial compensation for carriage owners who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy city-issued medallions and build up their businesses,” he added.
“This entire situation is reprehensible,’ he said.
Romanch’s Law, which has 29 listed sponsors, has zoomed through the typically-lengthy legislative process.
Edita Birnkrant, executive director of New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, or NYCLASS, thanked Menin for the pending ban on the industry.
“This moment belongs to the advocates and supporters who have spent years fighting with NYCLASS to protect horses and people on our city’s streets,” Birnkrant said in a statement. “Romanch’s death was a heartbreaking loss that laid bare the devastating consequences of this deadly industry. We thank his family for turning their grief into a powerful call for change.”
The mayor had previously said he supports the ban on the industry but was concerned about having more worker protections in the bill.