A timeline of New York City trying to ban horse carriages in Central Park

The iconic but controversial horse-drawn carriages in New York City might finally halt as Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin reached a deal Tuesday to outlaw them. If enacted, the proposed bill would ban rides for hire starting June 1, 2028. Other mayors have contributed to this effort, but none facilitated a full ban. Mamdani could be the first to achieve the full support of City Council to effectively ban horse-drawn carriages. How prior mayors dealt with carriage controversies When a horse collapsed from exhaustion in 2011, then-mayor Mike Bloomberg dismissed a call to ban the industry, citing the importance of maintaining a livelihood of New York City’s carriage drivers. In 2013, former mayor Bill de Blasio was the first mayor to announce plans for a full ban. Without support from City Council, however, the effort proved fruitless. Just months before the end of his mayorship, de Blasio’s successor, Eric Adams, attempted to end horse-drawn carriages, which also lost to little support from the council. Why is Mamdani acting now? An 18-year-old tourist from India, Romanch Mahajan, died after falling from a carriage in July, which prompted “Romanch’…

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