In top hats and uniforms, carriage drivers objected that a bill to take horses off city streets would destroy 300 jobs and lead to depression for working horses

On Monday 8 December, there was a sound missing from New York City streets: the clip-clopping of hooves from horses pulling picturesque carriages through Central Park.



For two hours, the carriage drivers gathered in top hats and uniforms, like some Victorian photo, to protest against the bill that would make their jobs illegal. They stood on the steps of City Hall to object to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s bill to ban horse-drawn carriages.



The legislation, sponsored by the city council member Daniel Dromm to fight cruelty against the horses, was introduced on Monday afternoon.

“The carriage horses work and live in inhumane conditions. Horses may be easily spooked by vehicles or other loud noises and put themselves and others at risk,” said Joyce Friedman of the Humane Society of the United States.

Dromm made a pitch sure to resonate with New Yorkers: against traffic. “The question before us today is ‘do horses really belong in traffic in New York City?’” he asked. “And I think the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers would have to say ‘no’.”

The city council bill proposes to replace horse-drawn carriages with horseless carriages, giving displaced carriage drivers a green cab medallion. The green-cab medallion is a license to operate an outer-borough taxi on the boulevards of upper Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, far away from the trees and nature of Central Park.

As a result, the bill has made many enemies: not just the carriage drivers, but the 18,000 member Taxi Workers Alliance, which could do without the competition from carriage drivers.

Open questions: whether current carriage drivers will get an expedited taxi license, and whether they will jump the queue ahead of professional taxi and livery drivers waiting years for their own medallions.



Monica Klein, assistant press secretary for the mayor, said that the mayor’s office has “been considering a range of options”.



About 300 jobs are at risk, according to the Teamsters Joint Council 16, which represents the carriage drivers. The jobs include stable owners, horse owners and stable hands.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nancy Soria, a New York City cab driver, and Oliver Joseph, a New York City carriage driver, pose for a New York Daily News photographer as Christina Hansen looks on. Photograph: Jana Kasperkevic/The Guardian

The cabbies and carriage drivers have united to create a “Save the Horses” campaign. As one could tell from the top hats on the City Hall steps, this group has a flair for theatrics.

“Go green with real horsepower,” read one sign. “Share the road, horses paved the way,” read another. “Clip clop clip clop, the ban on horses has to stop,” rhymed another picket sign.



Probably the first person to briefly trade his carriage for a cab was Oliver Joseph – “Jazz” – when on Sunday night, he helped back a green cab into the 52nd Street stable for a photo op for the New York Daily News.



Nancy Soria, who has driven a cab in New York for about five years, brought by her green taxi so that reporters could get a shot of drivers from both industries.



“Whose car you stealing, Jazz?” one of the other carriage drivers yelled as Jazz drove Soria’s car out of the stable.

“Taxi! Taxi!” Jazz yelled back from the driver’s seat, still wearing his top hat.

Horse and carriage drivers take a written test and an oral exam, then spend 80 hours in an apprenticeship with a licensed driver. The aspiring driver gets a six-month license that allows him or her to stick to Central Park – but if the driver racks up a single violation, the license is gone.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest A horse and his driver. And some pigeons. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Animal rights versus real-estate moguls



Opponents of the ban insist the carriage horses have it pretty good. Owners of the stables and horses invited anyone concerned about the horses to visit the stables themselves.

“I’ve visited the barns, I’ve watched the horses work and I haven’t seen any signs of abuse,” Janine Jacques, founder of the Equine Rescue Network, told the attendees at the rally.

There are 68 carriages in New York and about 240 licensed horses at any given time, says Christina Hansen, a New York Carriage driver. The horses get two veterinary checks a year, along with a health plan and a dental plan. About 150 of those horses are in the city working, while the rest are on vacation. With five weeks of vacation every year, “they have way better benefits than most American workers these days,” says Hansen.



“It means they are in Pennsylvania or upstate on a farm, just hanging out, doing nothing. They have to get at least five weeks vacation every year,” she said.

Horses were not made to laze around, say the Save the Horses advocates. The work the horses do in pulling carriages keeps them happy and healthy, says Hansen.



“If anything, horses need hope. They need more jobs,” Hansen says.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest “You can’t pet a fender”, says Christina Hansen. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters

The economy of carriages



Most of the horse carriage drivers in New York are independent contractors, says Hansen. They “rent” the carriage and the horse from the owners. At the end of the shift, they pay the owners a commission – usually around 60% of the cost of a ride.



Sunday evening, the night before the rally, the mood at the 52nd Street stable was somber.



“Only this job. I like it,” says Carmelo Vargas, a driver for 10 years, when asked what else he imagines himself doing.

“Horses are so happy and well treated,” says Helio Helte, a former plumber who has been a carriage driver for 23 years. “They have a job. I have a job. I am doing what I like. They are doing what they like. Why are you fixing something that needs no fixing?”



The money is good – the carriage rides are expensive, as any tourist can attest – but what distinguishes carriage driving from other New York jobs is the exposure to the outdoors and matters of the heart.

Mufide Yildirim, 26, has an engineering degree from Turkey, but after a year as a pedicab driver, she longed to work with horses.

In the year that she has been driving a carriage, she has driven seven couples that got engaged.

“Everyone says yes,” she laughs.

Hansen scoffs at the idea of swapping a carriage for a cab.



“Look, we drive horse-drawn cabs. I don’t care if it’s a green cab, yellow cab, purple cab, a polka-dotted cab – unless it has a horse in front of it, none of us are interested in it,” she insists. “We want to be with the horses. You can’t pet a fender.”



