Horse-drawn carriages to be banned in Central Park after deal between Council and Mamdani
City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Mayor Zohran Mamdani have reached an agreement on legislation that would end the use of the horse-drawn carriages in Central Park by June 2028, the New York Times reported. The issue has been a contentious one for over 150 years and the subject of fierce debate between animal rights activists and labor unions that represent the industry’s drivers and business owners. The topic once again came to the forefront when a visiting teen died after being thrown from a carriage in June; according to Menin, the bill is likely to pass with a veto-proof majority in a council vote scheduled for October 22.
A similar version of the bill, known as Ryder’s Law and supported by former mayor Eric Adams, was voted down by a council subcommittee last November, as 6sqft reported. In June, a carriage horse bolted after the driver stepped away to snap a photo for a family visiting from India; an 18-year-old fell from the carriage and struck his head, leading to his death. That tragedy and a number of additional horse-related incidents have made the law a priority for its proponents.
“When Romanch was killed, it was, to me, a breaking point where we have to do something,” Menin said in an interview with the Times.
Animal rights groups like New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets have opposed the carriages for years. The group celebrated the bill as a “long-overdue ban on cruel and dangerous horse-drawn carriages.”
Introduced in 2022 and sponsored by Council Member Christopher Marte, Ryder’s Law, the previous version of the bill, was named after a horse that collapsed in Hell’s Kitchen and was later euthanized. Following the incident, the Animal Legal Defense Fund showed that 71 percent of city residents agreed with banning horse-drawn carriage rides, as 6sqft previously reported.
Prior to a city council hearing on the bill in June, the Central Park Conservancy called for its passage, pointing to eight horse-related incidents in Central Park over the previous 13 months.
The group publicly backed the measure, now called Romanch’s Law after the teen killed in the recent carriage incident, for the first time in August.
Opposition to the measure comes from the city’s Transport Workers Union Local 100, representing the carriage operators, who say the law does not sufficiently protect workers, including 150 active and licensed drivers, who hold 68 medallions for horse-drawn carriages. In a statement to the Times, John Samuelson, the union’s president, said the current bill “has no meaningful economic relief for workers.”
The bill would require drivers to “dispose of their horses humanely,” rather than being sold for slaughter or put to use elsewhere in the horse-drawn carriage industry. The bill also asks the city to consider financial compensation for carriage owners who have purchased expensive city-issued medallions and spent years building their business.
Both Menin and Mamdani said they’re considering plans to compensate drivers for loss of their employment. In a post on X on Tuesday, Mamdani said: “The horse carriage industry is coming to an end in New York City. Our administration will make sure workers and owners are protected and the horses are safe.”
When asked about his commitment to the union workers during a press conference on Wednesday Mamdani said:
“We have stated our commitment before, and I will count to echo it. That it is a commitment to ensuring that we are protecting the workers in this industry, the owners in this industry. Every single day, over the course of the next negotiation of both this legislation and the broader framework around it, is one that we’re spending to advance that kind of agenda.”
“We want to ensure that this is a resolution that also comes with a measure of a just transition for those who have earned their livelihood from this kind of work,” the mayor added.
Though Mamdani has not specifically stated whether he would sign the bill into law, he has voiced support for it and said that he had reached an agreement with the speaker on the bill, which is expected to pass the upcoming city council vote with a veto-proof majority.
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