NYC horse carriage ban gains traction following tragic death of teen tourist

A horse carriage ban is gaining steam in the City Council following the freak accident that caused the death of an 18-year-old Indian tourist in Central Park this week.Some Council members said the tragedy — believed to be the first time in recent memory that a passenger was killed while riding in a horse carriage — might be the proverbial final straw for the beleaguered industry.“Is it the straw that broke the camel’s back? I think so,” said Councilman Frank Morano, a Staten Island Republican and co-sponsor of “Ryder’s Law,” which would outlaw horse carriages in New York City.“We have an 18-year-old boy who came here to celebrate his graduation who is leaving in a coffin.It’s totally unacceptable,” Morano told The Post on Thursday.“The time for treating these accidents as isolated incidents is over,” he said.

“It is an industry that no longer makes sense.”Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said he supports outlawing carriage rides in Central Park, a pledge he made on the campaign trail.“I support removing horse carriages from Central Park,” Mamdani said in January.Mamdani’s predecessors Eric Adams and Bill de Blasio also supported a horse carriage ban, though it never came to pass during their tenures.Opponents — including the union representing carriage drivers — said they’ve heard the clamor in years past following accidents or deaths involving carriage horses, only to see legislation stall when controversy subsided because the record shows the animals are well treated.But the new Council has expressed more of an interest in animal rights, recently creating an animal welfare caucus that includes 20 of the legislative body’s 51 members, including Morano.Council Speaker Julie Menin has ordered a hearing next month on Morano’s bill, named after Ryder, a Central Park carriage horse who tragically collapsed while working on a hot August day in 2022.

The bill stalled in committee last year.“In the past two weeks alone, we have se...