San Antonio & Brussels reign in horse-drawn carriages

But New York City carriage debate still plods in circles through the same old horseshit

SAN ANTONIO, Texas––San Antonio,  Texas appears poised to follow Brussels,  Belgium as the latest cities to see the end of horse-drawn carriages on city streets,  following Montreal (2019),  Chicago (2020),  and Philadelphia (2022.)

The five-member San Antonio city council transportation and infrastructure committee on August 19,  2024 “voted unanimously to direct city staff to draw up plans to remove horse-drawn carriages from city streets within 12 to 36 months and help carriage drivers buy electric carriages,”  reported San Antonio Express News staff writer Molly Smith.

San Antonio survey

KENS5 television news coverage indicated that the San Antonio city council committee decision was heavily influenced by a city-conducted online survey showing 52% of 50,476 respondents favored an end to use of horse-drawn carriages.

But while 77% of the respondents identified themselves as San Antonio residents,  the balance appears to have been tipped by the 22%––10,933 respondents in all––who identified themselves as tourists.

The survey web page was open for responses from July 25,  20024 through August 13,  2024.

New York City activists may have made the difference

On August 11, 2024 the New York City-based Coalition for NYC Animals,  which evolved out of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages founded by longtime horse-drawn carriage opponent Elizabeth Forel,  told 26,000 Facebook followers and emailed alert recipients,  with a link,  “You can help speak up for carriage horses by filling out this quick survey by August 13.  Make sure that you respond as ‘Tourist’ instead of ‘San Antonio Resident.’”

“The more cities in which we end this practice around the country,”  Forel said,  “the easier it will be to end the practice here in New York City.”

PETA sat it out

A People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals [PETA] web page in 2023 titled “Help Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages in San Antonio” urged readers to support a city council bill “which would require that horse-drawn carriages be phased out in the city and would prohibit the use of horses for carriage rides by the end of 2023.”

PETA does not appear,  however,  to have promoted participation in the San Antonio city survey.

Incorporating the Coalition for NYC Animals in 1994,  Forel in 2006 formed the subsidiary Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriage.  As the subsidiary gradually became better known than the original organization,  Forel in 2023 began bannering emails “New Image: At Coalition for NYC Animals,  We’re Not Just About Horses,”  with the explanatory text added that,  “We love and respect all animals: hoofed creatures,  pawed creatures,  beaked creatures,  creatures with pouches, scales,  and fins.  With the mission to end the carriage horse trade in NYC at a standstill,  we’re expanding our sights to include all animals in need.”

Another New York City carriage horse accident

But carriage horses remain a frequent focus.

“On Monday August 19,”  Forel emailed to coalition members on August 20,  2024,  “a terrified carriage horse was frightened by a noise and bolted into the Sixth Avenue intersection at 59th Street––with no driver,  narrowly avoiding crashing into vehicles!   The horse was the third or fourth in line [awaiting fares] and his driver was off chatting to his friends,  not paying attention — a common occurrence.  A conscientious carriage horse driver should remain in the box seat,  holding the reins so he can control the horse.  Many New York City drivers don’t do this.

“A similar accident occurred in 2012,”  Forel remembered,  “and involved a horse named Oreo who spooked on Central Park South as his driver was making an illegal u-turn.  His driver got off the carriage and lost control of the horse,”  who “bolted into traffic,  running up on the sidewalk and narrowly missing pedestrians.  The carriage split in two as terrified Oreo stuck two cars and ran for several blocks before being tranquilized by the New York City Police Department.

“Horses who spook are generally sold off”

“This is an extremely congested part of the city and it is shocking that no one was injured in either instance,”  Forel opined,  noting that “Horses who spook are generally sold off.

“Because horses are prey animals,”  Forel continued,  “their instinct is to run out of control when frightened.  This happens often in chaotic New York City traffic,  leading to dozens of vehicle crashes,  horse and human injuries and deaths in just the past few years.

“This archaic trade is still allowed to operate in New York City,  the most congested city in the world,” Forel contended,  “because the Transit Workers Union represents the carriage drivers.  They will endorse a council member but only if they will not support a ban on horse-drawn carriages.”

What “good union jobs”?

Added Forel in a separate opinion column for the Riverdale Press on August 9,  2024,  “When challenged,  some [New York city council members] will defensively say they are protecting ‘good union jobs.’

“But such jobs are nonexistent.  The union dues some drivers pay are more of a lobbying fee.  Carriage owners and non-owners,  both drivers,  belong to the same local.  There are no benefits,  vacation and sick days,  medical or retirement packages.  There is no income when the business is suspended because of the weather.

“There have been numerous accidents and deaths — at least 116 accidents and 28 horse deaths since the late 1980s.  Seventy-one percent of New Yorkers want it banned,”  Forel recited.

(See Why Paddy the horse probably wishes he didn’t go to work today.)

New York City has not had a recent fatality involving a horse-drawn carriage,  but a 77-year-old woman riding a bicycle was killed in a head-on collision with a horse-drawn carriage on August 21,  2024 on Mackinac Island,  Michigan.

Brussels goes electric

Manhattan has a population density of about 74,000 people per square mile,  a third that of Kowloon island,  Hong Kong,  but while Hong Kong has one carriage horse company,  Cinderella Carriage,  driving two carriages behind two Percheron horses each,   the Hong Kong drivers stay in the New Territories,  with a population density of about 11,000 people per square mile.

Brussels,  Belgium,  with a population density of nearly 20,000 people per square mile,  has “since the start of June 2024,  been the first city in Europe to make a complete transition to electric vehicles away from horse-drawn carriages for city tours,”  according to an August 16,  2024 Euronews report by Amandine Hess.

Brussels carriage concessionaire Thibault Danthine sold his six horses,  purchasing three electric carriages with funding from the Brussels city government.

“There were logistical and human resources issues,”  Danthine told Hess.  “It was getting harder and harder to find drivers.  And ethics are changing.  The relationship with animals is different nowadays.  It is less accepted to have a commercial activity involving animals.”

Central Park loop

Horse-drawn carriages in New York City are confined to what is called the Central Park loop in Manhattan.

PETA has urged the use of electric carriages built to look like antique cars, in place of horse-drawn carriages,  at least since 2009.

PETA argued then that the use of electric vehicles would be just as much a novelty for tourists to Central Park as the horse-drawn carriages are.

In 2024,  however,  when electric vehicles made up 7.9% of new vehicle registrations nationwide during the first quarter of the year,  electric cars are no longer a novelty.

“Do we really want to be responsible for adding another vehicle to the traffic mess in Manhattan?” Forel asked in 2023.

Forel questions whether carriages of any sort are appropriate to urban conditions.

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