The horse-drawn carriage rides in Central Park may soon come to an end. Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed this week that he and New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin have reached an agreement to phase out the horse-drawn carriage rides in Central Park with a target date of June 1, 2028, according to a report by the Epoch Times.
Mamdani said the city has “a civic responsibility to ensure that we are not leaving anybody out to dry” as the carriage rides come to an end. He said the plan will become more explicit as options are discussed. The bill is set to come up for a vote in the Council on October 22.
In response to the bill, the Transport Workers Union, which represents the carriage drivers, said it offers “no meaningful economic relief for workers,” and that it does not require the city to compensate the 68 owners of the medallions for their licenses. The union said Speaker Menin used “the tragic death of a tourist to contrive a public safety crisis” and now she wants to ban the carriage rides from Central Park.
The city is phasing out Central Park horse-drawn carriage rides after the tragic death of a tourist this summer. In a video on X, Speaker Menin announced that she supports a ban on the carriage rides. According to the union, it was the first death in more than 160 years of horse-drawn carriage rides in Central Park, when 18-year-old Indian tourist Romanch Mahajan was thrown from his carriage on June 17 when the horse became spooked and bolted. Mahajan hit his head and died. Despite this being the first death in well over 160 years of carriage rides in Central Park, the 68 owners will lose their livelihoods under the pending legislation. Meanwhile, as many as 28 people died in bike, e-bike and scooter accidents in the city in 2026 alone, and neither Menin nor Mamdani has set new safety measures for them.
Animal rights groups like NYCLASS have been waging a campaign against horse-drawn carriages in Central Park for years and flood social media with messages of outrage when a horse is involved in a mishap, such as the death of the carriage horse Deniz, who ate the poisonous plant Japanese yew growing in the park on June 9. NYCLASS celebrated the Council’s decision on X, writing: “It took the extraordinary courage, compassion, and unwavering leadership of Speaker Menin.”
