NYC's Central Park Conservancy calls for ban on carriage horses in the park

CBS News

a day ago

For the first time, New York City's Central Park Conservancy is calling for a ban on carriage horses in the park.
Conservancy President and CEO Elizabeth W. Smith wrote to Mayor Eric Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to voice concerns about the treatment of the horses, as well as the safety of pedestrians.
"We do not take this position lightly, but with visitation to the park growing to record levels, we feel strongly that banning horse carriages has become a matter of public health and safety for Park visitors," Smith wrote.
She said the Conservancy is supporting the passage of Ryder's Law, which would prevent new carriage licenses from being issued and end carriage operations altogether, starting June 1, 2026.
Ryder's Law is named for a carriage horse that collapsed in 2022 and died of cancer a few months later. His handler was found not guilty of animal abuse in a trial last month.
The Conservancy's letter comes one week after a carriage horse collapsed and died on 11th Avenue.
Among her concerns, Smith cited two recent incidents where horses got away from their handlers and ran free down the roadway before they were caught.
"These events underscore the unpredictable nature of horses in an increasingly crowded and dynamic urban environment, and the risk to public safety can no longer be responsibly overlooked," Smith said.
Another issue, Smith said, is the damage she says carriages are causing to the park's roadways.
"It is not fair that this relatively tiny subset of commercial operators is allowed to do such damage to the park at the expense of the millions of joggers, cyclists, walkers and other visitors to the park each year," she said.
She also accused carriage drivers of failing to clean up after their horses and ignoring no-parking signs.
"Our paramount concern is for the health and safety of the people who love the park, and it is in their name that we respectfully request that we turn the page on horse carriages, just as other major cities across the globe already have. It is time," Smith wrote.
The Transport Workers Union called the Conservancy's support for Ryder's Law outrageous and accused the organization of "desecrating the park's storied history."
TWU International President John Samuelsen said in a statement that Smith calling horse-drawn carriages a public safety concern "is absolutely ridiculous."
"The Conservancy has failed miserably to manage the swarming hordes of unlicensed and illegally motorized pedicabs, e-bikes, and electric scooters that pose the real threat," Samuelsen wrote. "Its redesign of park drives with new markings directing the different modes of travel is a complete disaster and universally despised. It fails to designate a mixed-use lane for carriages to use as there had been. No wonder it's even more chaotic than before."
He said the union is calling for a horse stable in Central Park on land that is not currently open to the public so horses would not have to walk on city streets, adding that it could also be used for educational and therapeutic purposes.
The union says the passage of Ryder's Law would impact about 200 workers in the carriage horse industry.
There are currently 68 carriages with city-issued medallions that are operated by a total of about 170 drivers and owner-drivers. The stable for carriage horses employs about 30 staff members to care for about 200 city-licensed horses.