Horse carriages running for more than 150 years in New York City, USA, are soon going to be banned. Animal rights activists have been continuously protesting for their removal. Regarding the ban, the city’s City Council has passed a bill to remove horse carriage rides from June 2028. 40 votes were cast in favour of the bill, while 7 members opposed it.
Horse carriages have been running in Central Park in New York for more than 150 years. Therefore, banning them could cause significant loss to the business of many carriage drivers. This decision was taken after the death of an 18-year-old Indian tourist, Romanch Mahajan, who died after jumping from an out-of-control horse carriage. Since the incident, there has been a demand in the city to ban horse carriages.
Mahajan’s family personally appealed to the municipality to shut down these rides and emotionally said that they used to find these rides safe. Mahajan’s uncle, Gaurav Mahajan, praised the proposal during a rally with animal rights activists on Thursday (October 22, 2026), saying that the time for justice has finally come. He said, ‘We are turning our huge loss into an unbreakable shield of compassion for the city. For months, our family was not allowed to grieve. We had to fight. We had to turn our deep sorrow into a fight for change.’
