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(Bloomberg) — New York’s City Council voted to ban horse-drawn carriages, ending a Central Park tourist staple dating to the 19th century after years of debate over the horses’ place on city streets.
The Council voted 40 to 7 to pass the bill, which Mayor Zohran Mamdani is expected to sign. Two members abstained. The ban takes effect June 1, 2028, and prohibits the sale of horses for slaughter or their transfer to other carriage companies.
The legislation includes a promise to construct a plan by April 1, 2027 for aiding carriage drivers in finding new jobs after the ban takes effect. That plan could include financial compensation for carriage drivers and owners, but doesn’t guarantee it.
Carriage industry employees and horse and stable owners say the bill doesn’t go far enough in providing for their financial futures.
Sixty-eight horse cabs are currently licensed to operate in Central Park, under a system that’s capped the number of carriages since the second World War. The industry employs roughly 150 drivers and more than 180 horses, according to industry spokesperson Christina Hansen.
“This bill is a train wreck of constitutional and due process violations,” said John Samuelsen, president of the Transport Workers Union International, which represents the carriage drivers, in a statement a day before the vote.
“It offers nothing concrete for blue-collar drivers and carriage owners who will be financially crushed, stripped of their jobs, their licenses, expensive city-issued medallions, small businesses, and way of life,” Samuelsen said. “It is not progressive. It is anti-worker. It’s theft.”
Samuelsen threatened Wednesday that the union would seek a temporary restraining order asking a judge to block the bill from taking effect “the minute the ink dries” on the bill.
The vote to end horse-drawn carriages is the culmination of a more than decade-long battle in city government over the propriety of the carriage industry.
The carriages have long faced opposition from animal rights activists who argue that forcing the horses to work in urban conditions undermines their long-term health and is unsafe. But the issue came to the forefront of the city’s politics when former Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged to shut down the industry on his first day in office, while he was running for mayor in 2013.
His plan ultimately failed, despite repeated attempts.
Efforts to ban the carriages reemerged in recent years, after a string of accidents. Since May 2025, at least seven people have been injured in carriage-related incidents, including drivers and tourists. Momentum for banning the carriages swelled after a carriage-related death in June, when an 18-year-old tourist named Romanch Mahajan fell off of a horse carriage and died, while with his family on a trip to visit the city.
–With assistance from Cameron Fozi.
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