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The New York City Council on Thursday passed a bill that would ban horse-drawn carriage rides until June 2028, withdrawing its teeth after the death of a teenage tourist last spring.
The legislation requires Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office to develop a plan by next April to help the more than 150 remaining drivers and the rest of the industry find other jobs, though its provisions are vague and do not set clear benchmarks for displaced workers.
Instead, it requires City Hall to come up with a program that includes job referrals, career counseling and educational opportunities. It also allows the administration to consider some form of compensation for industrial workers.
The mayor’s office has been working on a workforce transition program and has begun discussions about potential compensation, according to City Hall.
“The mayor will sign this bill into law, and the Mamdani administration is working every day to ensure we can do so while providing the strongest protections for owners and workers in this industry,” a mayoral spokesman said after the council’s vote.
Horse-drawn carriages or calèches are banned in Montreal effective Wednesday after horses collapsed from the heat and were hit by cars. Stable owners and carriage drivers have not suspended the ban and are now questioning their future and the horses.
The union representing the drivers had vowed to mount a legal challenge “the minute the ink dries” on the legislation.
The latest push began in June after an 18-year-old Indian tourist, Romanch Mahajan, died after jumping from a running carriage during a ride. His death appears to be the first fatality involving a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park since the rides began.
Mahajan’s family personally appealed to the city to end the rides, offering tearful testimony that they thought the rides were safe. His uncle, Gaurav Mahajan, praised the proposal during a rally Thursday, saying “the hour of justice has finally arrived” as he stood alongside local lawmakers and animal welfare activists.
“We are turning our devastating loss into an unbreakable sign of kindness for the city. For months, our family has not been allowed to just grieve,” he said. “We had to fight. We had to channel our devastating grief into a war for change.”
Wagon drivers have expressed sympathy for Mahajan and his family but argue that they are being unfairly targeted because of a single accident.
“It does nothing for alternative employment, for the continuation of our businesses,” said Christina Hansen, a longtime railcar driver and industry spokeswoman. “Who will pay my rent if I look for a job?”
