City reaches deal to phase out and ban horse-drawn carriages
The carriages would be phased out by June 1, 2028.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin have announced a deal to phase out and ban New York's iconic horse-drawn carriages by June 1, 2028.
"We were pretty blindsided," said Jill Adamski, a carriage driver from Midwood, Brooklyn. "I still don't think it's going to happen. I don't plan on stopping fighting this."
Adamski says that while she used to have an office job, she left it so she could drive a carriage and be around horses more.
"I'm kind of under the assumption I'll be living off savings for a while," she said of what will happen if the bill passes.
The carriage rides have been part of Central Park since it first opened to the public more than 165 years ago.
However, especially over the last two decades, the industry has been saddled with pressure from animal rights advocates, like New Yorkers for Clean, Livable, and Safe Streets (NYCLASS).
Edita Birnkrant, executive director of NYCLASS, cited, "the mistreatment, the neglect," of the horses.
"We have sick horses that work to the point of collapse or death," Birnkrant says.
But Adamski says that point of view is simply due to a lack of information, and that the industry is "so highly regulated, there's absolutely nothing close to abuse going on."
However, an 18-year-old tourist died in June while trying to save his mother, who had been thrown from an out-of-control carriage that ran off.
"This is ending, whether they like it or not. We can't have any more tragedies," Birnkrant said.
According to both Mamdani and Menin, the bill includes resources to help the approximately 150 carriage drivers in the city transition to something new.
In a statement, the president of the union representing them said the "bill has no meaningful economic relief for workers."
Adamski added that "there's still nothing of substance. It's basically talking about job fairs."
Birnkrant says it offers more than that, though, claiming city leaders are "saying they're even giving (drivers) the ability for scholarships, trade schools. (The drivers) know all this. This is just sort of PR."
At a news conference Wednesday, MTA chair and CEO Jannie Lieber also said drivers could be a fit for openings with his association, noting that "they're already in the transportation business, they're already dealing with customers."
Adamski said she would not be pursuing that.
"I don't plan on going back to anything that's not with horses," she says.
Speaker Menin says the Council will vote on the bill Oct. 22, and she expects it to have enough support to pass.
