The horse-drawn carriages that have circled Central Park for more than a century remain off the road this week, with Transport Workers Union Local 100 extending its self-imposed suspension of all hansom cab operations inside the park through at least Tuesday, June 23. The pause, first announced June 18, followed the death of 18-year-old Romanch Mahajan a day earlier and now sits at the center of an accelerating City Council debate over whether the industry should be regulated, restructured, or wound down entirely.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin confirmed last week that the council will hold July hearings on Ryder’s Law, the long-pending bill that would phase out horse-drawn carriages by 2028 and fund retraining for affected drivers. The measure currently has 14 council sponsors, and the timing of the hearings places one of New York’s oldest tourism traditions under formal legislative scrutiny within weeks.
What Happened on June 17
Mahajan, visiting New York from India with his family on a post-graduation trip, was riding in a Central Park carriage with his parents and younger brother when the driver dismounted to take a photograph of the family. The horse, which had been working in the park for roughly six weeks, bolted for reasons that remain under NYPD investigation. The carriage clipped the wheel of another cab and toppled. Mahajan was thrown from the vehicle and later died at NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center. Other family members sustained minor injuries.
Mahajan had arrived in New York that Monday and had just learned of his acceptance to a university in Jaipur. The family had spent the trip working through the city’s signature tourist itinerary, including the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge. It is the first known passenger death tied to a Central Park carriage ride in the industry’s roughly 150-year history, according to TWU Local 100 and the Central Park Conservancy.
The carriage driver was suspended indefinitely, and the horse was retired from service.
Ryder’s Law Returns to the Council
The Ryder’s Law iteration headed to July hearings is sponsored by Manhattan Councilmember Christopher Marte. The bill is the latest version of a measure first introduced after the 2022 collapse of a horse named Ryder, and it would prohibit the operation of horse-drawn carriages citywide on a phased timeline, with full implementation by 2028. It also requires the city to establish a workforce program to transition drivers into other lines of work and mandates humane disposition of the horses currently in service, barring resale for slaughter or transfer to other carriage operations.
The bill failed to clear committee in November 2025. Menin’s announcement that the council will hold hearings in July marks the most direct legislative response yet from the body’s leadership.
In a statement following the June 18 suspension, TWU Local 100 Administrative Vice President Alexander Kemp said the union is “absolutely gutted and stunned” by the death and emphasized that the industry had never seen a fatal passenger accident before. Drivers are using the pause to review safety protocols, including how horses are secured when a driver dismounts and how the industry trains for emergencies in a high-traffic park environment.
The Union’s Counterproposal
TWU Local 100 is backing a competing bill from Queens Councilmember James Gennaro that takes a regulatory rather than abolitionist approach. The Gennaro measure would require the city to install hitching posts at popular stops throughout Central Park so drivers can safely secure carriages when they need to step away, alongside an annual horse-health study through the city’s Rental Horse Advisory Board.
Industry representatives have argued that the Mahajan case turned on a procedural failure — a driver leaving the carriage without a hitch — rather than a structural flaw in horse-drawn rides as a whole. Longtime drivers have publicly estimated that the bulk of incidents in recent years could be prevented by hitching infrastructure paired with stricter driver protocols. The union says roughly 200 workers, including drivers, owner-drivers, and stable staff caring for about 200 city-licensed horses, would be directly affected by a full ban.
The Central Park Conservancy, the nonprofit that manages the park, has supported the passage of Ryder’s Law, framing the question as a public safety and visitor management issue given record park attendance.
Mayor Mamdani’s Position and the Workforce Question
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has publicly supported ending the horse-drawn carriage industry in Central Park and pledged to work with TWU Local 100 on what he has described as a “just transition” for affected workers. The mayor’s framing is meant to signal that any phase-out would be paired with retraining and placement support rather than abrupt layoffs, an effort to thread a politically difficult needle between labor allies and animal welfare advocates who form parts of his coalition.
The carriage debate has bedeviled City Hall across multiple administrations, dating back to Mayor Ed Koch in the late 1980s and surfacing prominently under Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams. What is different in 2026, advocates on both sides argue, is that a passenger fatality has shifted the conversation from animal welfare alone to broader questions about public safety in a destination that draws tens of millions of visitors a year.
The carriage suspension is expected to continue at least through Tuesday, with the union scheduled to review safety protocols before any return to service. The July hearings will set the next decision point.
