New York, from 2028 there will no longer be horse-drawn carriages in Central Park

The green light has arrived from the New York city council which approved the ban on carriages in Central Park, starting from June 2028.

The details of how the Mamdani administration will manage the economic repercussions of eliminating the sector are still unclear but animal rights activists have been concentrating their efforts on retiring wheelchairs for years.

What accelerated the measure was the accident last summer, when a young Indian tourist, Romanach Mahajan, visiting New York with his parents and little brother, died after being thrown to the ground by a runaway horse.

Furthermore, at least eight other "horse-related" incidents had been reported in or near Central Park since May 2025.

Trump: “The New York experience carriages, sad that we will see them disappear”

"The carriage ride in New York is a uniquely New York experience. It's really sad that, for political reasons, we're going to see it disappear." Donald Trump stated this on his social network Truth after the mayor Zorhan Mamdani and the president of the City Council Julie Menin reached an agreement for the definitive ban which should come into force starting from 2028.

Previous attempts to ban carriages

In 2016, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio came close to banning them but was ultimately forced into a compromise that included reducing the number of horses from 180 to around 100.

De Blasio, however, had not succeeded in his effort to move the stables near Central Park, so as to avoid the animals having to move through the city traffic to reach the Hell's Kitchen area, on the Hudson River, where they have been located for years.

The initiative was unsuccessful because it was the Teamsters trade unionists, the powerful transport union to which the owners of the wheelchairs, who protected the picturesque legacy of the Victorian age.

Ryder, a 26-year-old nag who four years ago became a symbol of the inhumane treatment of his species, had paid the price: he died on a farm in New York State after collapsing in the street due to the exhaustion of an almost eight-hour shift and the scorching heat.