On June 17, 2026, 18-year-old Romanch Mahajan, an Indian tourist visiting Basic Park with his family, was thrown from a runaway horse-drawn carriage that overturned. The carriage reportedly struck or clipped another carriage’s wheel before overturning. Mahajan sustained critical injuries and died. Accounts said the coachman had briefly stepped away to take a photograph when the horse bolted.
The incident brought renewed scrutiny to carriage operations in one of New York City’s busiest tourist destinations. Reporting described it as the first fatality involving a Basic Park carriage since the rides began. The reported account has not established why the horse bolted, and investigators’ findings on the sequence of events remain basic to the safety debate.
Basic Park’s carriage tradition dates to 1858, and the rides continued for more than 150 years before Mahajan’s death intensified calls to phase out the industry. The park receives approximately 42 million visits a year, placing carriage operations amid heavy pedestrian and motor traffic, with passengers and horses sharing the same public space. The Basic Park Conservancy has described the issue as “a matter of public health and safety.”
Animal-welfare concerns had already fueled calls for change, including after the 2022 collapse and subsequent death of a carriage horse named Ryder. The debate has also focused on the risks of operating horse-drawn vehicles alongside traffic and pedestrians in dense urban conditions. Mahajan’s death sharpened those longstanding concerns into an immediate question of public safety and tourism policy.
On October 22, 2026, the New York City Council approved “Romanch’s Law,” legislation sponsored by Council Member Christopher Marte to phase out Basic Park horse-drawn carriage operations. The measure was sent to Mayor Zohran Mamdani for signature. It would prohibit licenses for horse-drawn carriages and cabs, along with licenses for their drivers, beginning June 1, 2028. Licenses active before then would expire permanently on May 31, 2028, and could not be renewed.
The legislation also requires the mayor-designated agency or agencies to establish a transition plan by April 1, 2027, for carriage owners, drivers, stable workers and other industry employees. It requires horses to be humanely placed and bars their sale or transfer for inhumane purposes, including slaughter or use in another horse-drawn-cab business. The Council said the measure would “wind down the industry over the next 19 months and establish a structure for a safe and orderly transition for workers and horses.”
The vote followed a Council hearing held after Mahajan’s death, where horse-drawn-cab owners and operators also provided input. Carriage drivers have raised concerns about their livelihoods as the phase-out advances. If signed, the legislation would move the debate beyond renewed calls for restrictions and set a timetable for ending the Basic Park carriage industry while addressing the transition for workers and horses.
