Mayor Zohran Mamdani struck a deal with City Council leaders to ban NYC's horse-drawn carriages by 2028, leaving workers without guaranteed pay or real job protections.
Fox News reported that Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin reached an agreement Tuesday to advance legislation ending the horse-drawn carriage industry in New York City. The ban would take effect June 1, 2028, if the full Council approves the measure on Oct. 22.
The bill is known as Romanch’s Law. It follows the June death of 18-year-old tourist Romanch Mahajan, who suffered fatal injuries after a carriage bolted, collided with another carriage, and overturned in Central Park near Tavern on the Green. Drivers and owners now face a multi-year wind-down with a city transition plan that guarantees no financial compensation.
Menin would be the first sitting Council speaker to back such a ban, according to the Council. The deal sets a long runway before the industry shuts down, yet the concrete help for the people who run it remains limited.
Romanch Mahajan, a tourist from India, was thrown in the June 17 crash after the horse bolted. Emergency crews responded to the overturned carriage. His father, Deepak Mahajan, later had a video statement played for the City Council saying their son would still be alive if lawmakers had passed a ban the year before.
The Central Park Conservancy had previously described the fatal crash as the eighth horse-related incident in or around the park in about 13 months. Days earlier in that period, a carriage horse named Deniz collapsed and died while pulling tourists.
The New York Post reported the legislation aims to create new economic opportunities for roughly 200 carriage drivers who would lose their work under the ban. Animal welfare groups have pressed for an end to the trade for years over safety and animal treatment concerns.
Menin tied the legislation directly to the teen’s death and broader city priorities.
"The tragic and preventable death of 18-year-old Romanch Mahajan made clear that the status quo is no longer acceptable."
She also cast the change as balancing tradition with safety and economics.
"We can honor our city's traditions while recognizing when it's time to move forward in the interest of public safety, protecting workers, and strengthening our city's economic vitality."
Mamdani announced the outcome on X in plain terms. The same mayor has drawn repeated national scrutiny on other fronts, including when NYC Mayor Mamdani drew fury for turning the Oct. 7 anniversary into an Israel attack.
"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."
Just The News reported that efforts to outlaw the carriages date back to 2010, driven by horse deaths from accidents and exhaustion. Menin called the old tradition a growing public safety liability in a busy Central Park.
Transport Workers Union International President John Samuelsen rejected the claim that workers are protected. TWU Local 100 represents carriage drivers and owners. After Mahajan’s death the local had called for tougher driver exams, better training, and added safety rules rather than a full ban.
Samuelsen said the legislation falls short on money and jobs.
"Council Speaker Menin's bill has no meaningful economic relief for workers. It only says the city should prepare a worker transition plan by April 2027 and include weak measures like job fairs and job counseling."
He went further on the politics of the moment, arguing the death was used to manufacture urgency and that immigrant families will pay the price. Mamdani’s broader record has already put him at odds with enforcement priorities elsewhere, as when DHS faulted Mamdani and Hochul as New York skipped 16,000 ICE detainers.
"Council Speaker Menin used the tragic death of a tourist to contrive a public safety crisis. This is disgraceful political opportunism, and Zohran should not simply go along with it, particularly when immigrant families' livelihoods are being destroyed."
Under the deal, city agencies would have until April 1, 2027, to draft a workforce transition plan. That plan is supposed to cover job placement, career counseling, training, and referrals into other transportation and tourism work. Officials would also have to consider compensation for carriage owners and help retiring horses. No payouts are guaranteed.
City Hall spokesperson Sneha Choudhary described ongoing talks with the Council, unions, drivers, animal welfare advocates, and community leaders. She said the goal is ending carriages in Central Park while shielding workers.
"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’s office did not immediately respond to questions about the details. The gap between the promise of protection and the absence of locked-in compensation is the core problem for the men and women who still make their living with the horses. That pattern of bold claims followed by thin follow-through has marked other flashpoints for the mayor, including when Mamdani stood silent as protesters branded him a traitor at an October 7 vigil.
PETA representative Ashley Byrne called the agreement long overdue. Central Park Conservancy President and CEO Betsy Smith welcomed the Council’s move and framed it as a public safety question. She expressed hope the phase-out would be efficient and humane so no one else suffers Mahajan’s fate.
For many New Yorkers the carriages have been a familiar piece of the city’s streetscape and tourist draw. Progressive leaders now treat that tradition as a liability to be retired on a fixed calendar. Drivers are told to wait for job fairs and counseling while their industry is scheduled for extinction. The same administration has chosen symbolic fights and contested foreign-policy statements before, as when Israeli leaders across the spectrum condemned Mamdani’s “war criminal” attack on Netanyahu.
The Council still must vote. If the bill passes, the horses leave Central Park in 2028 and the workers are left to navigate whatever transition plan the city eventually writes. Job referrals and career counseling are not a paycheck. A promise to “consider” compensation is not money in hand.
When city leaders erase a working-class trade and answer real hardship with paperwork and job fairs, the people who kept the carriages rolling learn exactly where they stand.
