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On Oct. 22, 2026, the New York City Council voted to pass Romanch’s Law (Intro 943). The law will effectively phase out all horse-drawn carriages by June 1, 2028, as all horse carriage license renewals are set to expire by June 1, 2026. 

Council member Christopher Marte reintroduced the bill earlier this year on June 11, 2026, after making modifications to previous proposals. In fact, New York City has been heavily debating the integrity of horse-drawn carriages for nearly 20 years, with the first proposals to ban the practice in 2007. Since then, there have been numerous changes to the bill, and nothing has passed until now. 

The vote for the most recent version of the bill was 40 to seven, with two exemptions. After nearly 20 years of debate, what changed? Why is it just now that this bill was able to pass?

The name of the law provides some insight. Romanch Mahajan was an 18-year-old boy visiting New York City on a family vacation from India. His family decided to ride a horse-drawn carriage through Central Park, and when his coachman decided to step out of the vehicle to take a photo of the family, the horse darted off. Holding tight to each other, Mahajan’s mom fell out of the carriage, and in an attempt to save her, Mahajan himself followed. Yet the impact from falling out of the moving vehicle caused his death. 

No one knows exactly why the horse darted off. In the 20 years of being in the business, the driver himself even admits that nothing of the sort has ever happened before. With so much unknown, it begs the question about the safety, predictability, and risk associated with these tourist attractions. 

Since the tragedy, the family has become staunch advocates of the law. Of course, the death of a human is a more than valid explanation to expedite the process in a decades-long debate over passing or not passing the bill. However, there is a case to be made that passing such a bill is just for the safety of humans, but the horses as well. According to the Manhattan Borough President’s office, 40 horses have died while working since 1982. The office blames these fatalities on overheating and collisions. That is nearly one horse dying every year while working. This does not include horses dying in the stables or on their time off. 

Not only that, but the park conservancy has reported eight “horse-related incidents” in or near the park since May 2025. These include collisions with other carriages, collisions with cars, and even horses eating toxic plants in the park.

Executive director of NYClass, a non-profit animal rights organization, Edita Birnkrant, reveals that  “life of confinement — tethered to a carriage by day, alone in a stable by night — is fundamentally abusive… she cites specific cases, including a horse named Tommy that NYClass argues is severely underweight, and other instances of horses collapsing on the street and dying in stables in 2018 and 2019.”

Despite the tragic deaths, both human and horse, not everyone is on board. In an X post by President Trump, he wrote, “The Horse-drawn Carriage in New York City is a quintessential New York experience. So sad that, for political reasons, we will see it go!”

This isn’t political. It is a matter of safety and humanity. No one should be put in danger during a simple ride around the park, and neither should the horses pulling them.

On the other side, many are disheartened by the ban because it takes away their livelihood. Families depend on the income from their horse carriage businesses, and the city has a responsibility to help them through that loss. But keeping this tradition alive is not worth jeopardizing the lives of so many others, both human and horse.

This issue has been debated for nearly 20 years, and it shouldn’t have taken a tragedy to get here. If this ban had been in place just a few months earlier, Romanch Mahajan might still be here with us. As the Animal Legal Defense Fund put it, this vote marks “the start of a more humane and safe approach to New York tourism — for people and horses alike.”