NYC Council Votes 40-7 to Phase Out Central Park Horse Carriages by 2028 After Teen's Death

On Thursday, the New York City Council voted 40-7, with two abstentions, to end horse-drawn carriages in the city by June 2028. The vote closes out a tradition of nearly 170 years, and it came after the death of an 18-year-old in Central Park.

The measure is called Romanch's Law, after Romanch Mahajan, who died in June after being thrown from a runaway carriage in the park. The Central Park Conservancy, which celebrated the vote, said his death was the ninth carriage-related incident in just over a year. In a press release, it said carriages pose a serious and even fatal safety risk to visitors, drivers and the horses themselves, in a park that draws roughly 40 million visits a year. The organization also said its hearts broke for Mahajan's family, noting that he stepped into a carriage this summer never imagining he might lose his life.

Under the legislation, the industry would be phased out by June 1, 2028. The bill also requires the administration of Mayor Zohran Mamdani to build a transition program for more than 150 active carriage drivers and other workers. That program would include job training, career counseling and employment referrals. Financial compensation, however, is not guaranteed, and that gap is at the center of the opposition.

Opponents argued the city never set out a concrete financial plan for drivers and carriage owners. An attempt to push the phaseout back to January 2030 failed before the final vote. The bill does include protections meant to keep retired carriage horses from being sold for slaughter, and it allows owners to keep their animals.

The Transport Workers Union, which represents carriage industry workers, said it will challenge the ban in federal court and seek a temporary restraining order. Union representatives accused Council Speaker Julie Menin of not adequately consulting the drivers whose livelihoods are at stake.

Menin, speaking at a news conference, said she is confident in the law. She said the council spent the summer working on it and changed the text to strengthen worker protections. She said she had already spoken with Steve Banks and her team about the defense, and that they will vigorously defend the law.

President Donald Trump also weighed in on Thursday. On Truth Social he called the carriage a quintessential New York experience and wrote, "So sad that, for political reasons, we will see it go!" PETA, by contrast, welcomed the vote and pledged $50,000 to help carriage horses retire as the industry winds down.

The bill now goes to Mamdani, who has voiced support for ending the industry. If he signs it, it would end a decades-long political fight over one of the city's best-known tourist attractions. What happens next depends on that signature, and then on whether a federal judge grants the union's request to halt the ban.