New York Is Preparing to End a 150-Year Carriage Tradition in Central Park.

New York City is moving toward banning horse-drawn carriage rides in Central Park by 2028, potentially ending a tourist tradition that has operated in the city for more than 150 years. The latest push followed the death of 18-year-old Romanch Mahajan, an Indian tourist who was fatally injured after a carriage horse bolted in Central Park this summer. Animal-welfare advocates and city leaders argue that horse-drawn carriages no longer belong in a crowded modern park where pedestrians, cyclists, vehicles and tourists compete for space. The carriage industry and its union say a ban would eliminate the livelihoods of workers, many of them immigrants, and argue that stronger safety rules would be preferable to eliminating the trade. The proposed legislation includes a transition plan for affected workers and requirements governing what happens to the horses after the industry closes. New York has debated this question for years, but the argument is now larger than whether carriage rides are charming or outdated: it is about what happens when a city’s cultural traditions collide with changing standards for safety, labor and animal welfare.