NEW YORK: The New York City Council voted on Thursday to ban horse-drawn carriages from the city's streets and Central Park from June 2028, bringing the curtain down on a tourist attraction that has been part of the city's fabric since the park opened more than 160 years ago.
The measure passed by 40 votes to seven, with two abstentions, out of the council's 51 members. It was backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who had said earlier this month that the carriage industry would come to an end. The legislation now goes to the mayor for his signature.
"The mayor will sign this bill, and the Mamdani administration is working every day to ensure we can do so while providing the strongest possible protections for the owners and workers in this industry," Sneha Choudhary, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said after the vote.
The decisive push for the ban came this summer after the death of Romanch Mahajan, an 18-year-old tourist from India. Mahajan was thrown from a carriage and died on June 17, when the horse bolted after the driver stepped away to take a photograph of Mahajan's family.
According to reporting by Reuters, the incident shook the city council and galvanised supporters of a ban that had been debated, on and off, for nearly two decades. Firstpost, which described the measure as "Romanch's Law," reported that celebrations broke out among animal-welfare campaigners at City Hall after the vote.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who championed the bill, argued ahead of the vote that the carriages had become outdated for one of the world's most visited public spaces.
"They don't belong in an area that attracts 42 million people a year, pulling a 1,000-pound carriage in record heat," Menin said, according to the Economic Times.
The ban will prohibit the issuance of new carriage licences and phase out existing operations by June 1, 2028, according to the Economic Times, which cited ABC News. NDTV reported that the lead time is designed to help the approximately 150 active carriage drivers find new employment.
The legislation also carries provisions aimed at the welfare of the horses themselves. The bill mandates that owners of the nearly 200 horses would not be allowed to sell them for slaughter or for use in other horse-carriage businesses, NDTV reported.
Reuters reported that the bill requires the city to develop a workforce transition plan by April and to consider a compensation programme for carriage operators for their businesses, along with help in the disposition of their horses.
For the carriage industry, which has fought the ban for years, the vote landed as a body blow. The day before the vote, the Transport Workers Union, which represents carriage business owners and drivers, said it would seek a temporary restraining order from a court "the minute the ink dries," according to a letter sent to New York City Corporation Counsel Steve Banks and reported by Reuters.
"This may be the first time in City history that a previously licensed profession was banned," the letter, signed by principal attorney Arthur Schwartz, said. "The proposed bill deprives the owner of all economically beneficial or productive use of their property."
Firstpost reported that the legislation offers few details on how the city will manage the economic fallout for the roughly 200 owners, drivers and stablehands whose livelihoods depend on the industry, and is vague on the fate of the estimated 180 carriage horses. The mayor's office has said the 2028 deadline leaves time to work out those details.
The vote also drew a reaction from the White House. President Donald Trump, a New York native whose business empire is headquartered in Trump Tower, minutes from Central Park, expressed scepticism about the ban on his Truth Social platform.
"When there is a car accident in the area, of which there are many, they don't stop cars from entering the Park. So why would they stop the Carriages? It was a Great Tradition. Another piece of History that's gone. It will be missed!" Trump wrote, in remarks reported by Reuters. In a separate post reported by Firstpost, he called the carriage "a quintessential New York experience" and wrote: "So sad that, for political reasons, we will see it go!"
The battle over the carriages has a long history in New York politics. Former mayors Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams both pushed for a ban during their tenures but could not muster enough support in the council, the Economic Times reported. The latest effort gained momentum after Mahajan's death, which followed a series of earlier incidents in which tourists and parkgoers were injured when horses ran loose, along with the deaths of several horses.
Critics have long argued that the animals suffer in the work, pointing to deadly collapses and dangerous escapes, while supporters of the industry counter that it provides jobs and upholds a cherished heritage, NDTV reported.
The Central Park Conservancy, the non-profit that manages what is among the most-visited urban parks in the world, backed the ban, saying it had become "a matter of public health and safety," according to NDTV.
For visitors, the carriages have long been one of the most photographed experiences in Manhattan. NDTV reported that the rides currently cost $150 for 45 minutes, rising to several hundred dollars for special occasions such as marriage proposals.
They have been immortalised in film and television for generations — from Robert Redford and Jane Fonda's scene in "Barefoot in the Park" to appearances in "Sex and the City," "Elf," and "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York," as reported by Firstpost and NDTV.
Under the bill, the city must now produce its workforce transition programme by April, while the details of operator compensation and the rehoming of the horses remain to be settled. Animal-welfare advocates have hailed the vote as a landmark victory, while the carriage drivers and owners prepare for a court fight.
What happens next hinges on two developments: the mayor's signature, which his office has said will come, and the union's promised legal challenge, which could test whether a city can outlaw a previously licensed profession. For a tradition that has carried tourists through Central Park since its inception, the road ahead — if it exists at all — now runs only until June 2028.
(Reporting based on Reuters, NDTV, Firstpost and The Economic Times.)