Mamdani Moves To Ban Horse Carriages From NYC, Drivers React

Authored by Nicholas Zifcak via The Epoch Times,

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has confirmed that he and the City Council speaker have agreed to phase out carriage horse rides in Central Park, a win for animal rights activists who have long opposed the rides.

The mayor said he would make sure workers and owners are protected as the rides wind down, with an end date of June 1, 2028.

“I think that we have a civic responsibility to ensure that we are not leaving anybody out to dry,” Mamdani said at an unrelated press conference Oct. 14. The City Council announced it will vote on the bill ending carriage rides on Oct. 22.

The Transport Workers Union, which represents the carriage drivers, denounced the text of the bill as noncommittal, with “no meaningful economic relief for workers.” The bill does not require the city to compensate the 68 owners for their city-issued license or medallion.

Mamdani said the city’s plan will become more explicit and options are still being discussed. The mayor said he would make sure owners and workers won’t be made to pay “for the sunsetting of an industry.”

However, drivers say they feel they have been treated poorly, and that the City Council has no solid justification for the ban.

In a statement, the union denounced City Council Speaker Julie Menin for what it described as using “the tragic death of a tourist to contrive a public safety crisis.”

On June 17, Romanch Mahajan, 18, a tourist visiting from India, was thrown from a carriage after the horse spooked and bolted during a ride with his family. Mahajan hit his head and died. After his death, Menin announced her support for the ban in a video on X.

Carriage horse drivers argue the issue is not public safety. Mahajan’s death is the first in more than 160 years of horse-drawn carriages operating under the union in Central Park, compared to as many as 28 deaths related to bikes, e-bikes, and scooters on New York streets in 2026 alone. Menin and Mamdani have yet to set new safety measures on e-bikes and scooters.

Animal rights groups have long sought to end the carriage horses in Central Park, launching social media campaigns whenever there is a horse-related incident, such as the death of a carriage horse named Deniz on June 9 after he ate Japanese yew growing in the park.

Animal rights group New Yorkers for Clean, Livable, and Safe Streets (NYCLASS) reacted on X to the ban.

“For decades, NYCLASS fought to end cruel and dangerous horse carriages,” it wrote. “It took the extraordinary courage, compassion, and unwavering leadership of Speaker Menin.”

Drivers say that the horses are well-treated and that extensive city rules govern their feeding schedule, what time of day they can work, as well as the temperature range during which horses are not allowed to work (18 degrees or colder, 90 degrees or warmer). The city also mandates an eight-hour workday and five weeks of vacation time for the horses every year.

‘No Way!’

Carriage license owner Ahmet Bilici, who trained as a veterinarian in Turkey before coming to the United States in 2001, became a carriage driver to support himself as he was learning English. The job stuck, and he’s been a driver for 23 years. He said that if the City Council wanted to work with carriage drivers, drivers would be amenable, but that City Council just wants a ban.

“When you take this carriage from me, I am going to lose my quarter century! No way!” he said. “I trusted the city because the city licensed the medallion, and now you are shutting down? No way!”

Bilici said the ban will hurt 300 families if you count support staff, which includes stable workers, blacksmiths producing horseshoes, and craftsmen making saddles.

“This is my small business, my investment. It’s like my house. You’re burning my house!”

Bilici said that if the city shuts down the carriage rides, it must compensate drivers.

“There’s no way we can accept this,” he said.

Another driver, Danielle Slot, also said she was extremely disappointed. She thinks there is no solid justification for the ban.

“Our City Council is supposed to look out for people and represent people, and they’re supposed to see through these things,” said Slot, referring to the long-term campaign of NYCLASS head Steven Nislick to ban carriage horses, which dates to 2008.

Slot previously worked with horse-drawn carriages on Michigan’s Mackinac Island, a 4-square-mile island in Lake Huron that never welcomed automobiles and still relies on horse-drawn carriages.

“I’ve just completely lost faith in the government here, which is very sad,” said Slot. “It feels like they’re capitalizing on sensationalism.”

Slot said she voted for Mamdani.

She said City Council members are unaware of the realities of the equine industry, thinking as if a new home can easily be found for horses where they won’t need to work. The proposed ban requires owners to make sure horses are not sold off to other carriage drivers out of state.

“It’s a really nice thought that there would be some magical sanctuary. But it’s just not realistic,” said Slot, who added that caring for horses costs thousands of dollars a year. She said those on the City Council supporting the bill either don’t know, or they don’t care.

Slot moved to New York to work as an actor and is still pursuing her career in the performing arts. She said she came to New York in part “because this is a place where I feel like people are protected, people can be who they want to be,” but she said her experience with the ban on horse-drawn carriages makes her feel the political system is compromised.