Video Mamdani's horse carriage ban sparks union backlash over 'anti-labor' crackdown PETA's Director of Outreach Communications Ashley Byrne and Administrative Vice President of TWU Local 100 Alexander Kemp discuss New York City's proposed ban on Central Park's iconic horse-drawn carriages.
New York City lawmakers are set to vote on a bill that would effectively ban all horse-drawn carriages from Central Park — a move that means the tradition dating back to the late 1800s would be taken out to pasture.
The City Council is anticipated to approve a bill next week that would abolish the rides — which have been a staple in the Big Apple for more than 150 years — by June 1, 2028.
The bill follows an agreement between Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin and could mark the first successful effort to ban the rides after previous mayors unsuccessfully pushed to end the industry.
"We have been working closely with the City Council, union partners, carriage drivers, animal welfare advocates, and community leaders to deliver a just transition that protects workers while ending horse-drawn carriages in Central Park once and for all," a spokesperson for Mamdani’s office said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
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A horse-drawn carriage travels through Central Park in New York City in 2024. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images, File)
Menin, who was the first sitting City Council speaker to support the legislation, also celebrated the decision.
"We can honor our city's traditions while recognizing when it's time to move forward in the interest of public safety, protecting workers, and strengthening our city's economic vitality," Menin said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Menin for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
"Our Administration has been working on a detailed plan for the transition of the workforce and industry, and we have begun discussion of compensation for medallion owners," a City Hall spokesperson said.
For years, animal rights advocates have called for an end to Central Park’s horse-drawn carriages, pointing to high-profile incidents involving allegations of animal abuse and the deaths of carriage horses.
"New Yorkers are sick and tired of seeing exhausted, sick, lame, elderly horses struggling to pull carriages through Midtown Manhattan, collapsing in the streets," PETA Director of Outreach Communications Ashley Byrne told Fox News Digital. "They've wanted this gone for a long time."
Activists have largely denounced the industry as cruel and inhumane, pointing to incidents in which horses have been startled by Manhattan traffic and bolted into oncoming vehicles or onto crowded sidewalks.
However, the push to ban the tourist attraction intensified in June.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani smiles in reaction to reporters' comments after a private meeting with President Donald Trump at Gracie Mansion on Manhattan's Upper East Side, New York, Sept. 21, 2026. (Anthony Behar/Sipa USA)
On June 17, 18-year-old Romanch Mahajan, who was traveling from India with his family to celebrate his recent graduation, died after being thrown from a runaway horse-drawn carriage in Central Park.
His death prompted renewed calls for legislation banning horse-drawn carriages. Lawmakers renamed the proposed "Ryder's Law" — named after an elderly horse who collapsed on a Manhattan street in 2022 and later died — "Romanch's Law."
"It is tragic and absolutely unforgivable that this industry insisted on dragging this out until countless horses and a teenage human being with his whole life ahead of him died of accidents that never should have happened," Byrne said.
Julie Menin, speaker of the New York City Council, during an announcement in the Brooklyn borough of New York, on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (John Lamparski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Central Park Conservancy previously reported that the June 17 crash marked the eighth horse-related incident in or around the park in approximately 13 months. Eight days earlier, on June 9, a carriage horse named Deniz collapsed and died while pulling tourists.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Mahajan family attorney for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
The bill’s new namesake — and the support it has attracted — drew the ire of Alexander Kemp, administrative vice president of the Transit Workers Union (TWU) Local 100, which represents approximately 160 horse-drawn carriage drivers in Central Park.
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Emergency responders gather around an overturned horse-drawn carriage in Central Park after 18-year-old Romanch Mahajan was fatally injured when the carriage reportedly collided with another carriage and flipped over. (WNYW)
"Unfortunately, you had a fatality, a tragedy, with a 18-year-old young man, Romanch," Kemp told Fox News Digital. "And they used it to modify their position. It no longer became about animal welfare, and now this is about an 18-year-old tourist who lost his life tragically in an accident, in a horrific accident."
Kemp argued that the City Council used Mahajan’s death to reshape the bill and win over lawmakers after years of unsuccessful attempts to pass a ban.
"And they crafted legislation around that, because there was no appetite or evidence to prove that the animals were mistreated and that it was an animal welfare issue. Now they made it a human rights issue. Now they make it a safety issue," Kemp said.
Byrne, however, said the issue is rooted in safety concerns, pointing to increased foot traffic and the growing number of wheeled vehicles moving through the park.
"Central Park is filled with pedestrians, runners, cyclists, e-bikes and petty cabs," Byrne said. "It is no place for prey animals like horses who can spook at something as slight as a plastic bag blowing through the air or the sound of a car honking."
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Kemp said many carriage drivers are immigrants nearing retirement age, making it difficult for them to find new jobs if the industry shuts down.
"This is what they've done [in their home countries]," Kemp said. "And finding their way in America, this was their golden ticket. This was their street paved with gold. This was an opportunity for them to do something that they've in their country to find a way to feed their family here."
Under the legislation, city agencies would have until April 1, 2027, to develop a workforce transition plan for drivers and other industry workers. The plan would also require officials to consider compensation for carriage owners. Additionally, carriage owners would not be permitted to sell their horses for slaughter or for use in other horse-drawn carriage businesses. The animals would have to be rehomed or otherwise placed in a "humane manner."
"I think we have a civic responsibility to ensure that we are not leaving anybody out to dry," Mamdani said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Despite the bill’s promises, Kemp argued that Mamdani's administration, which campaigned on a pro-worker platform, is failing to protect the carriage drivers' livelihoods.
"If you're going to say to my face that you got labor's back, and then in the middle of the night you take a vote to eliminate a whole industry, well, then that is anti-labor. That is not pro-worker," Kemp said. "So, I don't know how you can satisfy both, just by saying, ‘By the way, that we believe, in our heart, that this industry has come to pasture — no pun intended. And now guys, please, can we hug after we get rid of this industry? Because we have other things we can talk about.’"
Kemp also criticized the mayor's administration for promoting pro-immigrant policies while supporting legislation that could eliminate roughly 160 jobs, many held by immigrant workers.
"If that is in how you conduct business, and you look at the least of us as the most vulnerable and expendable, then what it tells me is that you are not rooted in the politics of people," Kemp said. "You're rooted in the politics of politics."
"And please spare us with all the crocodile tears on how you care about workers and protecting workers and immigrants," he continued. "And just say you're more interested in satisfying the people who give you the most money."
The City Council is set to vote on the bill Oct. 22, with supporters expecting it to pass.
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Fox News Digital's Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.
Julia Bonavita is a media and culture writer for Fox News Digital, and a Fox Flight Team drone pilot. You can follow her at @juliabonavita13 on all platforms and send story tips to julia.bonavita@fox.com.
