Complaints Over Bike Lane Takeovers and Animal Dung Put Horse-Drawn Carriages Under More Scrutiny

Horse-drawn carriages, a popular tourist attraction evocative of bygone, quaint romanticism, are not so popular among frustrated cyclists and residents who find nothing romantic in the dung they allegedly leave behind or the tussle over bike lanes along 10th Avenue. Their complaints have been filling the inbox of Council Member Eric Bottcher, whose district covers the stretch between 52nd and 38th Street that the carriages frequent on their way to and from Central Park and their stables.

“These are called bike lanes, not horse lanes,” he told Straus News. “Carriages don’t belong in bike lanes because they are a danger to cyclists who have to go onto the road and ride around them.”

The 10-foot-wide bike lane in question was completed last fall. The complaints, Bottcher said, began coming in almost immediately. In the last several months, he has called on the Department of Transportation and Midtown North Precinct to enforce the proper use of roadways, but even then, horse-mounted police officers have also been found trotting along bike lanes.

TWU Local 100, a union that represents transport workers including carriage drivers, has pushed back against calls to crack down on horse-drawn carriages, whose drivers they say are being unfairly maligned. “The safety of the horse and the public always comes first, and there are instances where briefly traveling in the bike lane while commuting to the park is necessary,” said TWU Local 100 spokesperson Alina Ramirez. “If DOT can come up with innovative ways to accommodate vulnerable street users, cyclists, e-bike deliveries, surely there are ways to share the road with horses, whether carriages horses or police horses.”

Bike lanes and animal waste are not the only objections some people have against horse-drawn carriages. Animal rights groups such as New Yorkers for Clean, Livable, and Safe Streets (NYCLASS) have advocated for a ban of the practice, saying that it is cruel to horses. Several incidents captured on video, including one in May 2022 when locals witnessed two handlers pulling an exhausted carriage horse to its feet in Central Park, provoked outrage.

“Animal cruelty has no place in New York City,” tweeted Assembly Member Linda B. Rosenthal at the time. “Time and time again, we have seen carriage horses injured and abused on our streets. In 2011, I introduced legislation to ban carriage horses in NYC. Clearly, the industry remains just as cruel today.”

Bottcher is gathering co-sponsors for legislation that would replace horse-drawn carriages with horseless electric carriages. Other provisions would move carriage storage closer to Central Park to avoid a longer commute and the potential hassle to other road users. Because electric carriages do not require facilities for horses, the storage space required for them is much smaller. “Electric carriages are a safer and more humane alternative,” said Bottcher. “There are too many instances that have shown what can go wrong with horse-drawn carriages.”

Similar legislation in previous city council sessions was opposed by TWU 100 Local, who maintained that losing an iconic mode of transportation would lead to a decline in riders and threaten drivers’ livelihoods. “To our understanding, people have a preference to horses over electric vehicles,” said Ramirez. Bottcher argues that precedent indicates otherwise. “Many other places like Mexico City have made this transition successfully, with drivers able to keep their jobs and pay,” he said.

TWU 100 Local’s carriage safety committee and Bottcher are setting up a meeting to discuss the future of horse-drawn carriages in NYC, which appears to hang in the balance.