{"id":380496,"date":"2026-10-23T05:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T05:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/380496\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T05:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T05:28:12","slug":"nyc-votes-to-ban-central-park-horse-drawn-carriages-by-2028-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/380496\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC votes to ban Central Park horse-drawn carriages by 2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (TNND) \u2014 The New York City Council <\/a>on Thursday approved a ban on horse-drawn carriages<\/a>, with the rides in Central Park now set to come to an end by June 2028.<\/p>\n

Legislation known as Romanch’s Law passed on a 40-7 vote<\/a>, with two abstentions. <\/p>\n

The bill follows the June death of Romanch Mahajan, an 18-year-old tourist who died after jumping from a runaway carriage during a ride in Central Park. His death renewed a long-running debate about the safety of the horses<\/a>, passengers, and pedestrians.<\/p>\n

Animal-welfare advocates applauded the decision, arguing that horses do not belong on city streets. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Council Speaker Julie Menin backed the legislation.<\/p>\n

“Our landmark vote to pass Romanch’s Law is a demonstration of this Council’s commitment to animal welfare, public safety, and worker protection,” Menin said in a statement.”The Council took swift action, hearing hours of testimony from carriage drivers, animal welfare advocates, City officials, and constituents,” she added. “The resulting plan establishes a deadline to phase out the industry while ensuring the development of a comprehensive workforce transition that will protect the livelihoods of the hardworking New Yorkers who depend on it.”\"Gaurav<\/p>\n

Gaurav Mahajan, uncle of Romanch Mahajan, holds a poster during a press conference ahead of the vote to ban horse carriages in Central Park, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura)<\/p>\n

For carriage drivers, however, the vote brings uncertainty. More than 150 workers could lose their jobs, and their union has said it plans to challenge the ban in court. <\/p>\n

Drivers have defended the industry as a heavily regulated, historic attraction that supports immigrant families and draws visitors.<\/p>\n

“No one can come up with an appropriate answer because there is none,” said Alexus Lawson, a 28-year-old carriage driver from Queens who grew up with horses and has worked as a riding instructor.<\/p>\n

Now, she worries about what would become of 7-year-old Starlight and her other horses. <\/p>\n

“Without a job, how can I take care of my horses?” Lawson said.<\/p>\n

The measure directs the mayor’s office to create a transition program for affected workers by April 2027. It also requires that the licensed carriage horses be retired or otherwise handled humanely, rather than sold for slaughter.<\/p>\n

The ban ends a tradition that has operated in Central Park for more than 150 years.<\/p>\n

“When Central Park was created in 1858, NYC had roughly 800,000 residents, and carriages were part of daily life,” according to a post on the Central Park X account<\/a>. “Now, the Park sees 40M visits a year, and carriages pose a serious safety risk.”<\/p>\n

_________________<\/p>\n

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Associated Press contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (TNND) \u2014 The New York City Council on Thursday approved a ban on horse-drawn carriages, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":["post-380496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380496","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=380496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}