Forty of 51 New York City Council members voted Thursday to approve a measure that would end horse-drawn carriage rides in June 2028; seven opposed it and two abstained.
Forty of the Council’s 51 members backed the bill, which Mayor Zohran Mamdani also supported, Reuters reported. Seven members voted against it and two abstained.
The measure gives the city until April to devise a worker transition plan. It also calls for consideration of compensation for operators’ businesses and options for the horses’ disposition. The proposal would prohibit slaughter.
Reuters reported that support for the ban increased after Romanch Mahajan, an 18-year-old tourist from India, died June 17. The horse bolted after its driver stepped away to photograph Mahajan’s family, throwing him from the carriage.
President Donald Trump questioned the ban on Truth Social, contrasting it with cars, which are not barred from the park after accidents. He described the rides as a tradition that would be missed, Reuters reported.
In a letter sent a day before the vote to New York City Corporation Counsel Steve Banks, the Transport Workers Union said it planned to seek a temporary restraining order if the bill became law, Reuters reported. The letter, signed by principal attorney Arthur Schwartz, argued that the bill would deprive owners of “all economically beneficial or productive use” of their property and might mark the city’s first ban on a licensed profession, Reuters reported.
