Horse carriage rides are set to return to Central Park on Tuesday, just over a week after a deadly accident that has reignited a long-running debate over the future of the nearly 200-year-old tradition. The rides had been suspended since the death, and their resumption is already drawing protest from the family at the center of the tragedy.
The accident claimed the life of an 18-year-old tourist from India, identified as Romance Mahajan, who was thrown from a carriage and killed during what should have been a gentle ride through the park. His death turned a popular tourist attraction into the focus of mounting calls for change.
City leaders have responded forcefully. Mayor Mamdani has said he will work to eliminate the nearly two-century-old tradition, and has indicated he would sign legislation to ban the rides. Councilman Christopher Marte is renaming an existing measure, previously known as rider's law, to Romance's law, in memory of the teenager who died.
The legislation is now moving toward a formal review. According to Eyewitness News ABC7NY, a City Council hearing on the bill is scheduled for July 15, a step supporters describe as a pivotal moment after the Council speaker signalled that the effort is gaining traction. The measure would stop the city from issuing new horse carriage licenses and set up a two-year window during which city agencies would help drivers move into new work, an approach its backers cast as both a workforce development bill and an animal welfare bill.
Advocates argue that additional safety measures alone cannot remove the danger in a park crowded with cyclists, runners, dog walkers and tourists, where a startled horse can bolt in an instant. They also point to other cities as a model, noting that Philadelphia passed a comparable ban about three weeks ago and that many municipalities have adopted identical bills, while acknowledging pushback from those who prize the tradition and from drivers, many of them independent contractors rather than union members, worried about their livelihoods.
For Mahajan's family, the decision to resume rides so quickly has compounded their grief. In a letter to the city, they objected to the move, writing that allowing horse carriages back on the streets while their family is planning a funeral proves that the city values tourism over human life.
The carriage industry has tried to show it is taking the accident seriously. After the death, operators voluntarily unhitched all of their horses for several days to retrain drivers and owners, and when rides resume, safety teams are expected to be in the park to make sure all protocols are followed.
The planned retraining ran into the weather. A scheduled day of outdoor training with drivers and horses was rained out on Monday, with a spokeswoman saying the session took place indoors instead. The wet weather kept the crowds down and the horses away, and the stable doors were closed for the day.
The fatal accident was not the only recent loss. The week before the tourist died, a horse also died, with test results pointing to poisonous plants it had eaten along the way. One longtime neighborhood resident said seeing the horse that died was rough and deeply saddening, capturing the unease now hanging over a tradition that remains a popular draw for many visitors to New York.