Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin have struck a deal to ban horse-drawn carriages across New York City.
The agreement, announced Tuesday, would make operating the iconic Central Park rides illegal in all five boroughs starting June 2028. Menin, 48, said the council will introduce the bill next week, with a full council vote scheduled for Oct. 22. A spokesperson confirmed the Mamdani administration has already reviewed and approved the legislation’s language.
“This was not an unpredictable accident. Let his death not be in vain,” Deepak Mahajan pleaded before the City Council at a July hearing. The grieving father was speaking about his son Romanch Mahajan, 18, a tourist who was thrown to his death in June when a spooked horse bucked during a ride. The teenager’s family had demanded the industry be shut down, declaring “the industry responsible” for the tragedy.
The legislation has been renamed Romanch’s Law in the slain teenager’s honor. Previous versions were named after Ryder, a carriage horse who collapsed and later died after pulling a carriage in blistering August 2022 heat. The bill’s prime sponsor, Council Member Christopher Marte, celebrated Menin’s announcement to “secure human futures for the horses.”
“We are ready to get Romanch’s Law across the finish line on October 22 and finally bring this unsafe and outdated industry to an end,” Marte said in a statement. “With a majority of the Council behind us, we have a historic opportunity to protect New Yorkers, visitors, workers, and animals, and we intend to finish the job.”
Animal welfare advocates have long pushed to end the practice, citing grueling conditions for horses working long hours in extreme temperatures. Multiple horses have dropped dead or fainted on the job over the past year, with several others breaking loose while still harnessed to their carts. Several previous ban bills have been introduced and died in the council over the years.
The speaker emphasized that the new legislation will require the Mamdani administration to develop a plan connecting the city’s roughly 200 carriage drivers with “new economic opportunities.” The administration has been in discussions with union partners, drivers, advocates, and community leaders about the transition.
“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,” Mamdani spokesperson Sneha Choudhary said in a statement.
New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, the leading organization championing the ban, celebrated the breakthrough. “With the support of the council, and the mayor, this long-overdue ban on cruel and dangerous horse-drawn carriages will pass,” the group said. “We are deeply grateful to Speaker Julie Menin for her extraordinary leadership and determination to bring this legislation across the finish line.”
Menin tied the deal directly to the teenager’s death in her announcement. “The tragic and preventable death of 18-year-old Romanch Mahajan made clear that the status quo is no longer acceptable,” she said in a statement to The Post. “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.”
The fatal incident that galvanized the legislation occurred this summer when a bucking horse threw Romanch Mahajan to his death during what officials described as a freak accident. The teenager’s father noted at the July hearing that had prior legislation passed, carriages would have stopped operating June 1 — just over two weeks before his son died on June 17.
The practice has endured as a centuries-old tradition and tourist draw, though it has faced mounting scrutiny as horse collapses and escapes have piled up. The June fatality marked a turning point that brought renewed urgency to stalled legislative efforts.
The City Council is expected to vote on Romanch’s Law on Oct. 22.