Romanch's Law kills New York carriage jobs without a real plan

By Maya Ellison · Reporting from Detroit · October 22, 2026

The New York City Council banned horse-drawn carriages to address safety and abuse, but the vague transition plan leaves workers facing economic ruin.

The New York City Council just decided that the easiest way to solve a safety crisis is to bankrupt a workforce. By passing Romanch's Law, the city will phase out horse-drawn carriages by June 2028. They are doing this in the name of animal welfare and public safety. But look at the ledger. The city is trading the livelihoods of hundreds of workers for a moral victory that costs the government nothing. They are using a tragedy to wipe out a business without putting a single guaranteed dollar in the pockets of the people they are displacing.

A tragedy used as a lever

The catalyst for this ban was the death of Romanch Mahajan. He was an 18-year-old tourist from India who died in June after a horse bolted. It was a sickening event. According to NBC News and ABC News, he died after jumping from a runaway carriage. Council Speaker Julie Menin says this measure ensures he is the last soul lost to the industry.

The safety record is grim. The Central Park Conservancy reports seven horse-related incidents in the past 13 months. In January, a horse named Destiny ran into traffic and caused a multi-car collision. The Manhattan Borough President's office reports that 40 horses have died since 1982 from overheating and collisions.

These are facts that a citizen should carry into a council meeting. The industry has failed its animals and the public. But the city's response is a blunt instrument. They are not regulating the cruelty out of the system. They are simply deleting the system.

The medallion trap

For the drivers, this is not just a job loss. It is an asset seizure. Arthur Schwartz of the Transport Workers Union notes in 6abc Philadelphia reporting that owners paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for medallions. These medallions are the keys to their business. Now, those keys are being turned into scrap metal by a 40 to 7 vote.

This is the same mechanism at work in Uber and Lyft's legal battles over worker classification. In both cases, we see a tension between evolving public safety or ethical standards and the economic survival of workers in a precarious transportation sector. When the rules change, the people at the bottom pay the price. We saw this during Uber and Lyft's entry into the US market. A disruptive force replaces a traditional, medallion-based industry. The result is the same: long-time workers face economic devastation.

Drivers like Alexus Lawson and Medet Fidan are not corporate executives. They are working people. Drivers at the council hearing reported earning between $60,000 and $70,000 a year. Medet Fidan, a driver for 12 years, asked how the city can destroy his family's livelihood. Alexus Lawson, who owns six horses, asked how she will ensure their health without a job.

The myth of the transition plan

Mayor Zohran Mamdani says the city has a civic responsibility not to leave anyone out to dry. He promises an "industry transition framework." This framework includes career counseling and referrals to the taxi or hospitality industries.

Let's be clear: career counseling does not pay rent. It does not pay back a loan on a medallion. It does not feed a horse. This is a "plan to draft a plan." It is a bureaucratic ghost.

The strongest opposing case is that the industry is inherently cruel. PETA and the ASPCA argue that horses pulling 1,800-pound carriages in record heat is abuse. They argue that horses do not belong in a park that attracts 42 million people a year. This is a powerful moral argument.

But a moral argument is not a financial plan. You can ban the carriages and still pay the workers. You can protect the animals and still protect the humans. The city chose the path that requires the least amount of money from the public treasury.

This follows a historical pattern. Whenever the city promises a "transition" for displaced workers, it fails. We saw this during The Great Recession. A systemic failure led to a catastrophic loss for the vulnerable. The institutions responsible for the risk were shielded. The people in the zip codes like mine in Flint were the ones left with the ruins.

The city is treating these drivers like an inconvenience. They are told to go find work in hospitality. They are told to take "training." This is the same language used to dismiss every displaced worker in the last twenty years.

The cost of a clean conscience

The city is selling a vision of a magnificent park without carriages. They are charging tourists $72.22 for a 20-minute ride while they plan the industry's execution. The Transport Workers Union is right to seek a restraining order. They are fighting for their survival.

If the city truly cared about the workers, the bill would include guaranteed compensation for the medallions. It would include a funded sanctuary for the horses. Instead, it offers "referrals."

The long record predicts that this transition framework will stall in bureaucratic delays. We have seen this before with municipal programs for taxi drivers. The promises are loud, but the checks never arrive. For this to be different, the city would have to treat the drivers' livelihoods as a debt that must be paid, not a problem to be managed.

The city is playing a game of optics. They get to say they ended animal cruelty. They get to say they responded to a tragedy. But they are doing it by pushing 150 active drivers toward the cliff.

The New York City Council has passed a law that protects animals by sacrificing workers. Romanch's Law is a moral victory built on economic ruin. The city's promised transition plan is a hollow gesture that will leave drivers and their families in the cold. Justice for Romanch Mahajan does not require the bankruptcy of the working class. The city owes these drivers a concrete, funded exit strategy, not a brochure for career counseling. Until the city puts real money behind its "civic responsibility," this ban is just another example of the powerful cleaning their conscience with someone else's livelihood.

Romanch's Law kills New York carriage jobs without a real plan

A tragedy used as a lever

The medallion trap

The myth of the transition plan

The cost of a clean conscience

Sources