Drivers Jeer, Activists Cheer Horses' Move Into Central Park

CENTRAL PARK, NY — New York City's new rules on horse carriage pickups and dropoffs in Central Park took effect Friday, forcing a major change on an industry that has been fighting increased regulation for years.

Supporters and opponents of the new rules held dual rallies at the Central Park South and Sixth Avenue entrance Friday morning. Activists with the animal-rights group NYCLASS hailed the move as a win, but carriage drivers said it's actually dangerous for the horses."

"The entire process of moving the hack stands from their perfectly good historic location on Central Park has been an exercise in either corruption or gross incompetence - often both," horse carriage industry spokeswoman Christina Hansen said Friday.

Hansen is part of a lawsuit filed by a group of drivers to get the Department of Transportation regulation reversed in court. The drivers claim that by forcing the move through a DOT rule change, Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration illegally circumvented the City Council.

A state supreme court judge ruled in favor of the city agency in a similar lawsuit earlier this month.

In addition to claiming the rule change is unlawful, drivers also say it fails to make horses any safer. Drivers claim that the three locations where horses are now allowed to pick up and drop off passengers force horses to stand on a hill, which prevents them from engaging the "stay apparatus" that allows horses to stand up without engaging their muscles.

Despite the drivers' objections, activists say that any reduction of horses interacting with city traffic is a good thing for the animals. NYCLASS Executive Director Edita Birnkrant also contested the notion that the new zones are unsafe for the horses citing support from the ASPCA, animal welfare organizations and "several veterinarians."

"We're not going to allow in 2019 horses to continue to suffer being shackled in traffic nine hours a day," Birnktrant said Friday. "So this is really a positive change and I think any of the manufactured hysteria around this is just that. It's a refusal to adapt to a changing city."

Binktrant also disputed drivers' claims that the move from Central Park makes carriages invisible to tourists, saying that "anyone" can see the new pickup zones from the street.

New pickup zones are located at the following locations:

• Grand Army Plaza: The center lane at the Grand Army Plaza entrance on Fifth Avenue and East 60th Street.
• Sixth Avenue: Within the park entrance north of Central Park South.
• Seventh Avenue Entrance: The east curb, about 20 feet from Central Park South.

Each location except for the Grand Army Plaza zone was being used Friday. The city is still conducting road work at Grand Army Plaza to set up the pickup zone, which is evidence that the city is rushing through the regulation, Hansen said.