Some New Yorkers hail ban on horse-drawn carriages, but drivers fear for incomes

New York City is preparing to close a 160-year chapter of Central Park history: on Thursday, the City Council is expected to vote to ban horse-drawn carriages, with the ban taking effect in roughly two years.

Animal-welfare campaigners support the move, citing a grim record. According to the Manhattan borough president's office, 40 horses working in Central Park have died since 1982. The Central Park Conservancy, which backs the ban, says there have been seven "horse-related incidents" in the past 13 months alone: in May, a spooked horse hit another carriage and sent its driver to hospital, and in January a horse named Destiny bolted into traffic and triggered a multi-car collision. The push for a ban gained new momentum in June, when teenager Romanch Mahajan, visiting New York with his family from India, died after falling from a carriage.

But the roughly 200 drivers whose incomes depend on the trade are dismayed — and sceptical of replacement jobs the legislation promises. Alexus Lawson, 28, fell in love with the horses after petting one at age five and has driven a carriage for six years; she owns six horses and asked simply, "What am I supposed to do with my horse?" Medet Fidan, driving for 12 years, disputed abuse claims: "I spend more time with my horses than my wife and my kids." The Transport Workers Union says the bill's "industry transition framework" includes no guaranteed new jobs, and it would forbid selling horses for slaughter or for similar work.

Public views in the park are divided. Tourists such as Vanessa Stolle, a German visitor, called standing all day in the noise cruel, while fellow German Christian Bauers disagreed. Jeanne Collopy of Colorado worries about the animals but hates seeing people put out of work; her husband Chris Koenigs was won over by the safety risk: "It would be a magnificent park without the carriages."

Horses can currently work up to nine hours a day and are restricted to certain park entrances — regulations drivers say are already the strictest in the country.