New York City Has Decided To Ban One Of The City's Landmarks

Horse-drawn carriages in Central Park may soon be a thing of the past.

The New York City Council has decided to ban one of the city’s symbols and tourist attractions—horse-drawn carriages that take tourists on rides through and around Central Park. Thus, animal rights activists have won the long-running dispute over the fate of the carriages, but the drivers and horse owners promise to take the matter to court, according to BBC.

The ban on horse-drawn carriages is not set to take effect immediately, but only on June 1, 2028. An overwhelming majority of City Council members voted in favor of this decision on Thursday: 40 to 7. The law still needs to be signed by Mayor Zoharan Mamdani.

Out of concern for the welfare of the horses, the bill’s authors included a provision stating that, once they are no longer permitted to operate on the streets of New York, owners will be prohibited from sending them to slaughter or selling them to similar tourist carriage companies in other cities.

Currently, 68 horse-drawn carriages hold licenses to operate in Central Park—a number that has been capped since World War II. According to Reuters, citing the head of the Central Park horse-drawn carriage drivers’ union Christina Hansen, more than 180 horses and about 150 drivers are employed to serve tourists.

“It offers nothing concrete to either the working cab drivers or the carriage owners, who will be financially crushed, deprived of work, licenses, and expensive city medallions (a license to operate—BBC note), their small businesses, and their way of life,” Reuters quoted John Samuelson, head of the transportation workers’ union, as saying.

“We’ll see them in court,” added Alexander Kemp, vice president of the union’s New York chapter. “This battle isn’t over yet.”

The controversy surrounding Central Park’s horse-drawn carriages has been ongoing for many years. Supporters of keeping them say they are one of New York’s romantic symbols. These carriages, for example, have appeared in numerous movies.

New York native and U.S. President Donald Trump also spoke out in defense of the carriages ahead of the vote.

“Horse-drawn carriages in New York are the quintessence of New York. It’s so sad that they’ll disappear—for political reasons,” Trump wrote on his social media account.

Supporters of the ban, animal rights activists, say that horse-drawn carriages are an anachronism and that forcing horses to work hard amid heavy traffic and polluted city air is inhumane and dangerous to the horses’ health.

Ashley Burn, head of the organization “People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals” Ashley Bern said regarding the New York City Council vote that it marked the end of “a despicable enterprise that forced horses to pull heavy carriages through traffic-clogged streets, in harsh weather conditions, until they collapsed and died.”

In 2013, Bill de Blasio, before being elected mayor of New York City, promised that he would ban horse-drawn carriages on his very first day in office. Once he became mayor, he did indeed attempt to implement the ban several times, but ultimately failed.

Over the past year, several incidents involving these carriages have reignited the debate over their future. Since May 2025, at least seven tourists and carriage drivers have been injured.

In June, there was also a fatal accident: a horse was startled by something and bolted; the carriage overturned, killing an 18-year-old Indian tourist who was riding in it.

PATREON Support the website

Write your comment