The New York City Council on Thursday voted to end the use of horse-drawn carriages in Central Park by June 2028. The bill in question, drafted with the cooperation of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office, passed by a veto-proof margin of 40 to 7, as expected.
As 6sqft previously reported, the issue has been a contentious one for over a century and the subject of heated debate between animal rights activists and labor unions that represent the industry’s drivers and owners. The topic once again came to the forefront when a visiting teen died after being thrown from a carriage in June.
The vote is a major victory for animal rights groups like New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, who have opposed the carriages for years. The group hailed the bill as a “long-overdue ban on cruel and dangerous horse-drawn carriages.”
Introduced in 2022 and sponsored by Council Member Christopher Marte, Ryder’s Law, a previous version of the bill, was named after a horse that collapsed in Hell’s Kitchen and was later euthanized. Following the incident, the Animal Legal Defense Fund showed that 71 percent of city residents agreed with banning horse-drawn carriage rides.
Prior to a council hearing on the bill in June, the Central Park Conservancy supported its passage, pointing to eight horse-related incidents in the park over the previous 13 months.
Sneha Choudhary, a spokesperson for Mamdani, told the New York Times: “The mayor will sign this bill, and the Mamdani administration is working every day to ensure we can do so while providing the strongest possible protections for the owners and workers in this industry.”
Opposition comes from the city’s Transport Workers Union Local 100, representing the carriage operators, who say the law does not include protection for workers, including 150 active and licensed drivers, who hold 68 medallions for horse-drawn carriages.
On Wednesday a letter sent to city officials by lawyers for Transport Workers Union Local 100 said they would challenge the legislation in court should the council pass it.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin said on Wednesday that setting the ban’s effective date in 2028 provided city officials with enough time to assist anyone employed in the industry to find new employment, and that she would be working with the Mamdani administration to reach that goal.
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