By Maria Tsvetkova and Dan Fastenberg
NEW YORK, Oct 21 (Reuters) - To observers, the horse-drawn carriages driven by coachmen in black top hats, ferrying passengers through Central Park and nearby Manhattan streets, can seem like relics from another time.
They soon may be.
The carriages have rolled through Central Park since the 1800s but more recently have been condemned by animal rights activists, who say the horses are subjected to inhumane and unsafe conditions.
On Thursday, New York City lawmakers
are set to vote on a bill that would ban the carriages beginning June 1, 2028.
While attempts over the last decade to shut down the industry have failed, a majority of City Council members have co-sponsored the current bill, which has the support of Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
"The horse industry is coming to an end," he said earlier this month.
Carriages have traversed Central Park since a 6-mile loop was designed for horse rides in the 1800s. By the mid-20th century, the city had limited horse-drawn carriage licenses to 68. Carriages were allowed to operate in the park and on city streets alongside cars.
"These carriages have been here before any of us have been here," said Angelica Vega, a 45-year-old dog walker who has been coming to Central Park for 20 years, often three times a day. "It's going to be sad to walk in the park and not see them."
Support for the proposed ban grew after the death this summer of Romanch Mahajan, an 18-year-old tourist from India. Mahajan was thrown from a carriage and died on June 17 when the horse bolted after the driver stepped away to take a picture of Mahajan's family.
Mahajan's family filed a $50 million notice of claim against the city government and expressed support for the ban.
"We welcome the vote that will finally ban horse carriages in New York City so that no other human being or horse has to suffer the terrible tragedy that has befallen the Mahajan family," Sagar Chadha of Liakas Law, counsel for the Mahajan family, said in a statement.
HORSE CARRIAGE BUSINESS
The ban is expected to put hundreds of people out of work, including carriage owners, drivers and stable workers, and raises questions about the future of their horses.
Ahmet Bilici, 52, grew up on a farm in Turkey and became a carriage driver in 2003, shortly after immigrating to the US. He later became a business owner. A driver can earn a six-figure annual income giving rides that cost more than $70 for 20 minutes, and that income can double if the driver owns the business, he said.
"I have a license issued by the city. If I'm not doing anything wrong, how can you come and attack my business?" Bilici said as he waited for customers beside his carriage.
The bill requires the city to develop a transition plan by April and to consider a program to compensate carriage operators for their businesses and help with the disposition of their horses. Under the proposal, the horses could not be slaughtered.
Because carriage licenses, also known as medallions, are limited to 68 and are not sold on an open market, they are often passed down within families and can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The Transport Workers Union denounced the proposed bill.
"The horses in Central Park are iconic. We are as much a part of the city as the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building," Christina Hansen, a carriage owner and union shop steward, told Reuters.
She spoke at the stables near the Hudson River in Manhattan, where most carriage horses spend their time when they are not working or taking mandatory five-week annual vacations at farms.
MIXED FEELINGS
California residents Dan Padilla and his wife booked a carriage ride during their first visit to New York, thinking it might be their last chance to take one.
"I'm concerned. It's one of the things you think about when you think about Central Park," Padilla said.
Lawyer Ron Shechtman, riding an electric bike through the park this week, said that while he regrets the loss of a longstanding tradition, he would not miss navigating around horse manure.
Although each horse is equipped with a bag defined in city regulations as a "manure-catching device," Shechtman said the devices are hardly foolproof.
"They only work sometimes, I can tell you that," Shechtman said.
"It makes me sad to see the horses, personally," said Sage Stoyer, a 34-year-old hospitality worker who lives in Brooklyn. "I know a horse-drawn carriage was a normal thing, and now we have so many different alternatives that give us the same kind of experience without taking advantage of animals."
(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova and Dan Fastenberg; Additional reporting by Hussein Waaile; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Mark Porter)
