据印度新闻社“印度新闻社”报道，纽约市议会已通过一项法案，旨在终止中央公园的马车游览服务。此举是在今年夏天一名18岁的印度游客罗曼奇·马哈詹在一起马车事故中身亡后采取的。
The New York City Council has passed a Bill to end horse-drawn carriage rides in Central Park following the death of 18-year-old Indian tourist Romanch Mahajan in a carriage incident this summer, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
“罗曼奇法”将在2028年6月1日前逐步淘汰马车，同时为依赖该行业谋生的工人提供保障。市议会于周四以40票赞成、7票反对、2票弃权的结果批准了该法案。该法案现在将提交给纽约市长佐赫兰·马姆达尼签署。
Romanch’s Law will phase out horse-drawn carriages by June 1, 2028, while providing protections for workers whose livelihoods depend on the industry. The Council approved the Bill on Thursday by 40 votes to seven, with two abstentions. It will now go to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for his signature.
该立法以马哈詹的名字命名，他在中央公园乘坐马车时被甩出车外，随后身亡。在他去世后，市议会举行了一次听证会，以考虑逐步淘汰该行业的立法措施，并听取马车车主和经营者的意见。
The legislation was named after Mahajan, who died after being thrown from a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park. Following his death, the City Council held a hearing to consider legislative measures to wind down the industry and hear from horse-drawn cab owners and operators.
据印度新闻社报道，市议会在一份声明中表示，根据一个旨在确保工人和马匹安全有序过渡的框架，该行业将在未来19个月内逐步淘汰。
The industry will be phased out over the next 19 months under a framework intended to ensure a safe and orderly transition for workers and horses, the City Council said in a statement, according to PTI.
议会议长朱莉·梅宁称该立法的通过具有历史意义，她说马哈詹的“悲剧性且可预防的”死亡“凸显了在数十年担忧日益加剧后采取紧急行动的必要性”。
梅宁说：“从长期存在的动物福利担忧和日益极端的高温天气，到中央公园历史性的过度拥挤——该公园现在每年迎接超过4200万游客——现状已变得不可持续，且对马匹和人类都不安全。”
Calling the passage of the legislation historic, Council Speaker Julie Menin said Mahajan’s “tragic and preventable” death “underscored the need for urgent action after decades of mounting concerns”.“From longstanding animal welfare concerns and increasingly extreme heat conditions to historic overcrowding in Central Park, which now welcomes more than 42 million visitors annually, the status quo has become unsustainable and unsafe for horses and people alike,” Menin said.
她说，此次投票体现了市议会对动物福利、公共安全和工人保护的承诺。
She said the vote demonstrated the Council’s commitment to animal welfare, public safety and worker protection.
议会听取了马车车夫、动物福利倡导者、市政府官员和居民数小时的证词。“由此产生的计划设定了淘汰该行业的最后期限，同时确保制定全面的劳动力过渡方案，保护依赖该行业谋生的辛勤纽约人的生计，”梅宁说。
The Council had heard hours of testimony from carriage drivers, animal welfare advocates, city officials and residents.“The resulting plan establishes a deadline to phase out the industry while ensuring the development of a comprehensive workforce transition that will protect the livelihoods of the hardworking New Yorkers who depend on it,” Menin said.
该法案由市议员克里斯托弗·马特提出，将禁止自2028年6月1日起颁发马车马、马拉客车及其驾驶员的执照。法案生效时仍然有效的执照将于2028年5月31日永久到期，不再受续期要求约束。
The Bill, sponsored by Council Member Christopher Marte, will prohibit the issuance of licences for carriage horses, horse-drawn cabs and their drivers on or after June 1, 2028. Licences active when the Bill takes effect will permanently expire on May 31, 2028, and will no longer be subject to renewal requirements.
马特表示，经过数十年的辩论，倡导者的坚持以及“马哈詹家族的勇气帮助我们达到了一个可以让这些马安全退休、并帮助工人开启新篇章的节点”。
动物健康行动组织欢迎此次表决，称其为数十年来保护马匹免受在世界上最繁忙的城市环境之一工作危害的运动中的重要里程碑。“这一成就反映了多年来致力倡导的努力，以及那些拒绝放弃为纽约市争取更人道未来的人们的决心，”动物健康行动组织和人道经济中心主席韦恩·帕塞尔据印度新闻社报道说。
Marte said that after decades of debate, the persistence of advocates and the “courage of the Mahajan family have helped us reach a point where we can retire these horses safely and help workers build their next chapter”.Animal Wellness Action welcomed the vote, describing it as a major milestone in the decades-long campaign to protect horses from the dangers of working in one of the world’s busiest urban environments.“This achievement reflects years of dedicated advocacy and the determination of people who refused to give up on a more humane future for New York City,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Centre for a Humane Economy, according to PTI.
本月早些时候，马姆达尼和梅宁就结束在中央公园使用马拉客车的立法达成一致。该拟议法律此前被称为“莱德法”，以一匹26岁的马车马命名，该马于2022年8月在被迫拉车时在城市中倒下。莱德于2022年10月死亡。
Earlier this month, Mamdani and Menin agreed on the legislation to end the use of horse-drawn carriages in Central Park. The proposed law was previously called Ryder’s Law after a 26-year-old carriage horse that collapsed in the city in August 2022 while being forced to pull a carriage. Ryder died in October 2022.
在它死后，包括动物法律辩护基金在内的动物权益和倡导团体呼吁纽约市立法，禁止并取代马车。
Following its death, animal rights and advocacy groups, including the Animal Legal Defence Fund, called for city legislation to ban and replace horse-drawn carriages in New York City.
马哈詹去世后，受纽约市委托负责中央公园日常养护的中央公园保护协会表示：“这是我们去年首次呼吁因马车对公共安全和公共健康构成风险而将其禁入中央公园时所担心的悲剧。一名年轻人来享受我们的公园却失去了生命。在全美使用最频繁的公共空间之一的中心地带，让一个过时的行业继续运营，这绝不是可以接受的代价。”
After Mahajan’s death, the Central Park Conservancy, which is entrusted by the City of New York with the park’s day-to-day care, said: “This is the tragedy we feared when we first called last year for horse carriages to be banned from Central Park due to the risks they pose to public safety and public health. A young man came to enjoy our park and lost his life. That is not an acceptable cost of an antiquated industry operating in the middle of one of the most heavily used public spaces in America.”
因此，《罗曼奇法》将在2028年6月前终结中央公园的马车行业，同时为受影响的工人和马匹制定过渡程序。
Romanch’s Law will therefore bring the horse-drawn carriage industry in Central Park to an end by June 2028, while setting out a transition process for affected workers and horses.