NEW YORK CITY — Horse-drawn carriages have clopped through Central Park for over 160 years. This Thursday, the New York City Council is scheduled to vote on a bill that would bring the long-standing tradition to an end.
The legislation, known as Romanch's Law, would ban horse-drawn carriage operations starting June 1, 2028. Both Democrat Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Democrat Council Speaker Julie Menin have publicly voiced their support for the phaseout.
'It’s going to be a disaster for me, for my family. I cannot pay my bills.'
"They're stealing my American dream from me," Atakan Aktay, a Turkish immigrant who has worked in the Central Park carriage industry for 13 years, told Blaze News.
The bill follows the June death of 18-year-old Romanch Mahajan, an Indian tourist vacationing in New York with his family. During a carriage ride through Central Park, the driver stepped away to snap a photo of the family when the horse suddenly bolted, throwing Mahajan's mother from the carriage. Mahajan jumped out after her, striking his head on the ground and suffering fatal injuries.
Supporters of the ban say eliminating the industry would protect both horses and the public. But for the drivers whose livelihoods depend on the carriages, the legislation threatens to dismantle everything they have spent decades building.
Aktay, who owns nine horses, two carriages, and multiple operating medallions, said he has invested his life savings in the business.
"It’s going to be a disaster for me, for my family. I cannot pay my bills,” he said. “You don't just wipe out the whole industry because of an accident. You regulate, you modernize.”
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The bill requires the city to develop a job transition program for displaced workers and consider compensating carriage owners but does not guarantee any financial payouts. Christina Hansen, a carriage driver of 20 years, said the help falls short.
"They want to put me to work at 22 bucks an hour doing something that I don't want to do, like I'm some sort of plug-and-play widget," she said.
Sam Uzun, a 27-year-old driver who also works as a data scientist, said he has another career to fall back on. Many of his colleagues do not.
"Some of the people are 60 years old, 65 years old. They like to do this job,” Uzun explained. “They are depending on this business, their family and their kids.”
Drivers also pushed back against allegations of animal cruelty. "We love our horses as much as a mother loves their kid," Uzun said.
Hansen raised another unanswered question: What happens to the horses?
"There's no funding set aside in the bill to pay for the long-term care of retiring carriage horses," she said. “They want my horse to be homeless, to be a charity case.”
The bill bars selling or transferring the animals for slaughter or for use in another carriage business, but it does not require owners to give them up.
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Some New Yorkers see room for a middle path. Mickey Krisburg, an Upper East Side resident, described the carriages as "a great part of the culture of New York" and called for better oversight to ensure the horses are "well maintained, well cared for."
Another resident, Jennifer Federer, suggested that replacing horse-drawn carriages with electric alternatives could preserve drivers' jobs while addressing animal welfare concerns.
“I don't want humans to have their jobs taken away from them and have to change their entire life," she said. "That would be my compromise."
For tourists, the allure of this quintessential Big Apple experience remains very much alive.
"We came to New York for my 13th birthday to see 'Wicked' and go on a horse and buggy ride,” said a 13-year-old girl from Michigan as she stepped off a carriage with her parents.
“The New York dream, right?” her mother added.
But with the city council vote just days away, that New York dream may soon become a thing of the past.
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