{"id":373001,"date":"2026-10-14T15:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T15:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/373001\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T15:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T15:40:13","slug":"new-york-city-council-to-vote-on-banning-horse-drawn-carriages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/373001\/","title":{"rendered":"New York City Council to vote on banning horse-drawn carriages"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taking a horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park could soon be a thing of the past, as the New York City Council considers banning the attraction beginning in 2028<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For more than 150 years, animal activists have fought to ban carriages, citing concerns for animal welfare, public safety and traffic hazards. Now, they have support from Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the City Council leader \u2014 bringing old legislation back to the front lines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\"QR<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDownload the Straight Arrow app today to get the stories that matter free from manipulation, bias or agenda.\u2122\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPoint phone camera here\t\t<\/p>\n

What led to the legislation?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Legislation to ban carriages was first drafted in 2022 as Ryder\u2019s Law, after an elderly horse named Ryder fell to the ground after working more than seven hours on a hot day. The death sparked a harsher push for change, but ultimately wasn\u2019t passed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then, this year, New York saw a tragic year for horse-drawn carriages. In June, a 16-year-old horse collapsed and died<\/a> during a ride on Central Park\u2019s west side. The carriage driver attributed the horse\u2019s death to a medical emergency, but it reignited debate over carriage presence in the park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News via Getty Images<\/p>\n

A day after the horse\u2019s death, an 18-year-old visitor from India died when he fell from a carriage during a ride.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when legislators reignited conversation around the legislation, renaming it Romanch\u2019s Law, to honor the 18-year-old who died.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the time, Mamdani said he supported the legislation\u2019s \u201cspirit,\u201d but urged protections for workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Proposed legislation\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, Council Speaker Julie Menin and Mamdani have agreed on legislation<\/a> to ban horse-drawn carriages beginning in June 2028, if the Council approves it in a vote next week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Mamdani, the latest version of the legislation includes protections for current horses and employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur administration will make sure workers and owners are protected, and the horses are safe,\u201d Mamdani said in a post on X<\/a> Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The horse carriage industry is coming to an end in New York City. <\/p>\n

Our administration will make sure workers and owners are protected and the horses are safe.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) October 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

The Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents carriage drivers, argues that protections are insufficient.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCouncil Speaker Menin\u2019s bill has no meaningful economic relief for workers,\u201d John Samuelsen, the president of Transport Workers Union International,\u00a0 said in a statement. \u201cIt only says the city should prepare a worker transition plan by April 2027 and include weak measures like job fairs and job counseling.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the legislation does not protect the workforce, which includes about 150 active and licensed drivers and about 160 licensed horses.<\/p>\n

Upcoming vote<\/p>\n

Now, officials say Mamdani and legislators have come to an agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAdvocates have spent years warning that the carriage industry is dangerous for both horses and passengers, but every effort to end it has stalled,\u201d said a spokesperson for council member Christopher Marte, the bill\u2019s prime sponsor. \u201cThe Council now has a chance to stop more animals from suffering and prevent another family from experiencing a tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marte says a majority of the council, which has 51 members, supports Romanch\u2019s Law. They will vote on the legislation on Oct. 22, and if it passes, it will head to Mamdani\u2019s desk for final approval.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Round out your reading<\/p>\n

He built his own Flock-style camera to track police<\/a>. The police didn\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s apparent joke about letting Iran bomb LA and San Diego catches bipartisan condemnation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Grandparents are fighting for access<\/a> to their grandchildren. Here\u2019s what the law says.<\/p>\n

When the \u2018victim\u2019 is made with AI, child pornography cases get complicated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fibermaxxing<\/a> is trending. Here\u2019s what the science says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taking a horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park could soon be a thing of the past, as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":["post-373001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}