In a veto-proof 40-7 vote on Thursday, the New York City Council approved "Romanch's Law," banning horse-drawn carriages across the five boroughs starting June 1, 2028. The decision winds down a Central Park tradition that has carried tourists past Manhattan's landmarks since the 1800s — and sets up an immediate courtroom fight with the union representing the industry's drivers.
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| A horse-drawn carriage carries passengers through New York City with Midtown Manhattan skyscrapers in the background (file photo). |
The Vote That Ended the Debate
Out of the council's 51 lawmakers, 40 supported the ban, 7 voted against it, and 2 abstained, according to reports. Mayor Zohran Mamdani backs the measure and is expected to sign it into law, but the margin was large enough that the bill would take effect even over a veto.
The legislation is named "Romanch's Law" in honor of Romanch Mahajan, an 18-year-old tourist from India who was killed in a carriage accident in Central Park in June. His parents attended the council meeting on Thursday, a detail that underscored the personal weight behind the policy fight.
"Today's historic vote marks our commitment to animal welfare, public safety, and protecting workers," Council Speaker Julie Menin said in a statement after the vote.
The Tragedy That Tipped the Balance
Support for the ban had been building for years, but it surged after the June 17 death of Romanch Mahajan. According to reporting by Reuters, the young tourist was thrown from a carriage and killed after the horse bolted when the driver stepped away to take a picture of Mahajan's family. An IANS account of the council proceedings added a heartbreaking detail: Mahajan's mother, Priya, was thrown from the carriage first, and he dove after her, striking his head on the ground. He died in the hospital.
Romanch's uncle, Gaurav Mahajan, addressed supporters of the ban at a rally outside City Hall before Thursday's vote. "True justice means recognising that these gentle, majestic horses do not belong on the congested asphalt or trapped in dangerous traffic," he said, before making what he called "one final sacred request" on behalf of the family: "Please do not forget Romanch."
June had already been a difficult month for the industry. Earlier that month, a horse named Deniz collapsed suddenly in Central Park while pulling a carriage carrying passengers, setting off another wave of backlash against the carriage trade.
A 19th-Century Tradition Under Pressure
The horse carriages have been part of the New York streetscape since the 1800s, and by the mid-20th century the city had capped the number of carriage licenses at 68. Over the decades, the white carriages became a tourism staple, appearing in films and television shows including "Sex and the City," "Elf," and "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York."
Animal rights groups have campaigned against the practice for decades, arguing that it subjects horses to harsh, unnatural conditions and physical exhaustion amid Manhattan traffic. Council backers also pointed to safety risks: Menin noted that Central Park draws 42 million visitors a year, creating a congested environment where carriages share space with dense traffic and pedestrian crowds, and that horses have previously been spooked and broken free. She recalled that initial legislative efforts to end the industry began 19 years ago.
Betsy Smith, CEO of the Central Park Conservancy, supported the vote, saying the carriages present what she described as a severe safety risk to visitors, drivers, and the horses themselves. Kathleen Schatzmann of the Animal Legal Defense Fund praised the decision as a humane shift for New York tourism that balances worker support with animal protections.
The Industry Vows to Fight
The carriage workers were not resigned to the outcome. The Transport Workers Union, which represents roughly 200 carriage drivers and owners, pledged to file a lawsuit against the city the moment the bill is enacted — seeking a temporary restraining order "the minute the ink dries," according to a letter its lawyers sent to the City Council the day before the vote.
"This may be the first time in City history that a previously licensed profession was banned," the letter, signed by principal attorney Arthur Schwartz, argued, claiming the measure deprives owners of all economically beneficial use of their property. Union attorney Ben Kallos added that the city failed to conduct a required economic impact analysis, asserting that a judge would likely overturn the legislation.
TWU International President John Samuelsen was blunter in a statement. "This bill is a train wreck of constitutional and due process violations," he said. "It offers nothing concrete for blue-collar drivers and carriage owners who will be financially crushed, stripped of their jobs, their licenses, expensive city-issued medallions, small businesses, and way of life. It is not progressive. It is anti-worker. It's theft."
The New York Post reported that the ban will take hold on June 1, 2028, and outlaw horse-drawn carriages across all five boroughs. A last-minute attempt to amend the proposal and push the effective date to 2030 was rejected.
Trump Weighs In
President Donald Trump, a native New Yorker whose business empire is headquartered at Trump Tower minutes from Central Park, criticized the council's decision on Truth Social. "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!" he wrote.
USA Today quoted him more briefly, reporting that he called the carriages a "great tradition" that "will be missed."
What Is In the Bill
Beyond the ban itself, the bill requires the city to develop a transition plan for the carriage workforce by April and to consider a program to compensate operators for their businesses and help with the disposition of their horses. Under the proposal, the horses could not be slaughtered — a provision aimed at one of the most persistent fears of animal welfare advocates whenever working animals are retired.
What the bill does not offer, according to the union, is anything concrete: the legislation includes only vague promises of job training for "new economic opportunities," which Samuelsen dismissed as no replacement for the drivers' livelihoods.
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| A horse-drawn carriage on a Central Park road next to a park sign (file photo). |
What This Means
The council's vote closes one of the longest-running political fights in recent New York City history. Efforts to end the carriage trade have been debated for nearly two decades, surviving multiple mayors and repeated campaigns from celebrity-backed animal rights groups. The difference this time was the combination of a tragedy with a name, a mayor who had already declared the industry "coming to an end," and a veto-proof majority willing to absorb the legal risk.
For the roughly 200 people who make their living on the box seat, the vote is a livelihood-ending blow delivered with less than two years' notice — and the lack of guaranteed compensation is the sharpest edge of their grievance. For supporters, it is a public-safety and animal-welfare milestone that other cities with carriage trades are now watching.
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| A horse-drawn carriage with its driver in Central Park (file photo). |
What Happens Next
Mayor Mamdani is expected to sign the bill in the coming days. The moment he does, the Transport Workers Union has promised a lawsuit and a request for a temporary restraining order — meaning the first real test of "Romanch's Law" will play out in court, not at City Hall.
Union lawyers say the city failed to conduct a charter-required economic impact analysis and that the ban amounts to an unconstitutional taking of property, arguments a judge will now have to weigh. The city's Law Department, led by Corporation Counsel Steve Banks, has already received the union's warning letter.
Even if the lawsuit proceeds, the clock is set: beginning June 1, 2028, horse-drawn carriages will be illegal across New York's five boroughs, and a fixture of Central Park that has survived for more than a century and a half will be gone.
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