New York Votes to End Central Park's Horse Carriages, as European Cities Take Different Roads

New York City has passed a ban on horse-drawn carriages, bringing an end to one of Central Park's best-known tourist traditions, The New York Times reported on 22 October. The ban is due to take effect in 2028 and is expected to face a challenge in the courts.

The measure, known as Romanch's Law, is named after Romanch Mahajan, an 18-year-old tourist from India who died in June after a carriage horse got out of control in the park while he was riding with his family. Investigators said the carriage clipped the wheel of another carriage and overturned. Council Speaker Julie Menin said the tradition had become a growing public safety liability, and the Central Park Conservancy, which manages the park, backed the move. The Conservancy had counted eight other carriage incidents over 13 months.

The bill, agreed earlier this month between the Council and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, would phase out the industry by June 2028 and stop new licences being issued. It bars the sale of the horses to slaughterhouses and sets up a transition programme for workers, including job placement, training, counselling and compensation. The Transport Workers Union, which represents about 200 owners, drivers and stable hands, says the bill offers no meaningful economic relief and has said it will go to court.

New York is following a path several European cities have already taken. Prague banned carriages from Old Town Square and Stromovka park from January 2023, citing traffic noise, exhaust fumes and extreme summer and winter temperatures. Brussels went further, ending horse-drawn tourist rides from January 2024 and offering electric carriages in their place.

Other cities have chosen to regulate rather than ban. In December 2020, Rome moved its traditional botticelle off city streets and into public parks and historic villas, with set routes, regular rest stops, a seven-hour working limit and no rides from midday to 5.30pm in July and August. Vienna allows its Fiaker to work until the air temperature reaches 35°C. Animal welfare campaigners there, whose petition has gathered about 65,000 signatures, want the limit cut to 30°C, which they say already applies in Berlin and Bruges.

Malta has followed the regulation route too. Since 2019, karozzini horses have been barred from working on the roads between 1pm and 4pm in July and August, and must be parked in the shade during that time. In August this year, the government went further: under new guidelines published in the Government Gazette, no karozzin may operate while the Met Office has an official red alert for extreme heat in force. Animal Liberation Malta has called for a gradual switch to electric karozzini, a freeze on new licences and a grant scheme to help drivers make the change.

The debate is similar wherever it takes place. Supporters of bans point to horses working in heavy traffic, on hard road surfaces and in rising summer temperatures, and to the risk to passengers and pedestrians when a frightened animal bolts. Drivers and owners point to family businesses that go back generations, to veterinary checks and welfare rules already in place, and to a cultural heritage that many visitors come to see.

As summers grow hotter, heat has become the main focus of carriage rules in southern Europe. Whether cities choose to ban carriages outright, limit where and when they run, or replace them with electric versions, the choices show how tourism, animal welfare, public safety and local jobs have to be weighed against each other in the same decision.

Why it matters

Tourism is being asked to live up to the values visitors increasingly hold. Horse-drawn rides are a small part of the sector, but they are highly visible, and the way a city handles them signals how seriously it takes animal welfare, public safety and the experience it offers to residents as well as tourists.