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Tag: electric carriages

  • A Colombian city swaps iconic horse buggies for electric carriages amid animal welfare concerns

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    BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The Colombian city of Cartagena began replacing its iconic horse buggies with electric carriages Tuesday, following years of protests by animal rights activists, who argued that horses pulling 19th-century-like coaches for tourists suffered from exploitation and poor health.

    In a sunny plaza lined with elegant colonial era mansions, Mayor Domek Turbay introduced a new fleet of 30 vehicles with large wheels and open tops that resemble the city’s traditional horse carriages. The new vehicles are powered by batteries and have steering wheels for their drivers, instead of reins and yokes.

    “Times are changing,” Turbay said. “For many years locals and visitors alike had rejected the mistreatment that comes with using horses to pull buggies for tourists.”

    Cartagena is one of Colombia’s most popular destinations, thanks to its location on the Caribbean Sea, and its well preserved historical center, where visitors can still walk along stone walls built in the 17th century to defend the city from attacks by pirates and buccaneers.

    Since the 1940s, tourists have also been able to get around the city’s lantern lit streets on small buggies pulled by horses, whose clip-clopping sound became a quintessential part of the city’s life.

    But over the past decade, animal rights activists have been lobbying the municipal government to axe the tradition.

    Fanny Pachon, a local activist, said that while horses are pack animals, they are not meant to work in a city with cement roads, cars and motorbikes. She pointed out that on several occasions horses have collapsed on the city’s streets due to Cartagena’s heat.

    “Their joints suffer from the pavement,” she said. “And the honking of cars can stress them out.”

    The Colombian city, whose historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage site, is now billing itself as the first major tourist destination to replace horse buggies with electric vehicles.

    The city government said that over the next few weeks, 62 electric carriages, which were custom built in China, will be introduced in the city center. The city is also building a warehouse with a small solar plant and a charging station for the new sight-seeing vehicles.

    The move has been fiercely opposed by the city’s traditional horse buggy owners, who argue that their industry has already been regulated to improve animal welfare.

    Coach rides were restricted mostly to night-time hours by regulations published in 2015, that also said that horses had to undergo inspection by the local animal welfare agency.

    “We are one of the most regulated industries in this city,” said Jacqueline Gonzalez, the owner of two traditional coaches in Cartagena.

    Coach owners have threatened to go on a hunger strike if the city does not compensate them for their losses. They argue that the city government is pushing them out of a business that working class families built up with decades of hard labor.

    “This has not been a transition,” said Yesid Soto, the president of an association that represents horse coach owners and their employees. “It has been more of an imposition.”

    A decree issued last week by Turbay prohibited the use of horse carriages starting Monday. It states that the electric buggies that will now take tourists around the city center, will be the property of the city.

    Soto said there are 26 horse coach owners in the city who will be displaced by the new decree.

    He said that coach owners are asking the city to compensate them for the horse carriages that will be taken off the city’s streets, but that so far, an agreement with officials has not been reached. Soto said that during the city’s high season for tourism, in December and January, a horse buggy can earn around $150 each day.

    Cartagena’s municipal government says it wants to hire coach owners and coach drivers to operate the new vehicles. It has offered jobs to horse carriage drivers, but has still not spelled out how it could integrate coach owners into the management of the new fleet of electric vehicles.

    Turbay has accused the coach owners of “sabotaging” negotiations.

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  • Mayor Adams calls for end to NYC horse-drawn carriage industry; City Council says for political gain | amNewYork

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    Hizzoner says ‘neigh’ to horse-drawn carriages in the city.

    Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday endorsed legislation to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City. This policy shift follows years of advocacy, public safety concerns, and high-profile animal deaths.

    Adams, who also signed an executive order directing agencies to prepare for the industry’s end, called on the City Council to swiftly pass Ryder’s Law, a bill that has languished for more than a year.

    The measure would phase out the horse-drawn carriage industry by halting the issuance of new licenses and banning carriage operations entirely starting June 1, 2026.

    It also requires that retired horses be placed in humane settings, barring their sale for slaughter or to other carriage businesses. In addition, the bill directs the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to create a workforce development program to help drivers and other employees transition into new jobs.

    Executive Order 56 directs city agencies to prepare for the industry’s end, increase oversight and enforcement, create a process for drivers to voluntarily return their licenses, and identify new employment opportunities for workers.

    “While horse-drawn carriages have long been an iconic fixture of Central Park, they are increasingly incompatible with the conditions of a modern, heavily-used urban green space,” Adams said in a statement.

    “It’s not about eliminating this tradition,” Adams said. “It’s about honoring our traditions in a way that aligns with who we are today.”

    Adams emphasized that his administration will work with drivers as the city transitions away from horse carriages. “We will not abandon the drivers themselves, who are honest, hard-working New Yorkers,” he said, noting that the city is considering new programs for electric carriages.

    ‘Opportunistic and not helpful’

    Calls to end the industry have intensified in recent years after a string of high-profile incidents involving carriage horses. In Aug. 2022, a horse named Ryder collapsed in Hell’s Kitchen during a heatwave, sparking outrage from animal advocates. Ryder later died of cancer that October.

    Animal rights activists and politicians, including City Council Member Robert Holden, have led the charge to pass the horse’s namesake law since Ryder’s death.

    Last month, another horse, Lady, collapsed and died from an aortic rupture near Times Square.

    Other incidents this year have raised additional safety concerns, including runaway horses bolting through Central Park.

    Since Ryder’s now famous collapse, Councilmembers Holden and Erik Botcher have been peddling legislation that would outlaw horse carriages and replace them with electric carriages. Holden argues that the shift would benefit both the animals and the drivers since the promised machines would be able to run year-round and in any temperature.Photo by Dean Moses

    Last month, the Central Park Conservancy, for the first time, took sides in the off-again, on-again, years-long controversy between carriage drivers and animal rights supporters by calling on city officials to end horse-drawn carriages in the park.

    An ‘absolute disgrace,’ union says

    Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents about 200 carriage riders in the city, has long called the proposed ban  “outrageous” and a move that would be a “devastating blow” to its members.

    TWU Local 100 President John V. Chiarello said Mayor Adams’ backing of the ban was an “absolute disgrace” and a betrayal of working-class New Yorkers. 

    “It’s disappointing to see Adams, who is polling dead last in the mayor’s race, now abandon hardworking people who make their living taking part in an age-old New York tradition,” Chiarello said. 

    A spokesperson for the NYC Council said Ryder’s Law is continuing through the legislative process, criticizing Mayor Adams for using the issue for political gain. 

    “The Council appreciates that this is a difficult and emotional issue for many New Yorkers, which has persisted for decades. Mayor Adams politically using it for his reelection campaign is opportunistic and not helpful,” the spokesperson said. 

    “Mayor Adams and Randy Mastro have no credibility in the legislative process after the Council was forced to override their vetoes of grocery delivery worker and street vendor bills that their administration had supported,” they added.

    Mastro: City Hall ‘meeting the moment’ on industry

    Responding to criticism that the mayor’s timing is politically motivated, First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro described such claims as “emotional” and said Mayor Adams is merely “meeting the moment”  following the series of horrific incidents involving horse-drawn carriages. 

    “A consensus is developing that there’s a need to act now and to phase out this industry,” Mastro told amNewYork. “So this legislation has been pending for a year or more in the city council. It has 21 co-signers, which means it’s very close to passage, and the mayor hopes that the council will also meet the moment.”

    The First Deputy Mayor said that TWU 100’s comments in response to Adams’ announcement used “rhetoric that’s totally uncalled for,” especially since his executive order directs city agencies to “find new jobs for these workers” and to “recognize and compensate those who voluntarily return their licenses.”

    Mastro urged council leadership to expedite hearings and a vote, saying the legislation is necessary to legally end the carriage business and ensure a structured transition, saying they have a “moral imperative” to do so. 

    On the possibility of new roles for current carriage drivers, the First Deputy Mayor suggested that potential opportunities could include roles in a prospective electric carriage industry, city government driving positions, and other jobs involving horses. 

    “We’re going to respect the workers in this industry. We’re going to respect the licensees in this industry, and we’re going to respect these animals and do right by all of them,” he said. 

    Amid the criticism, Adams found an unexpected ally in fellow mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, the Guardian Angels founder and longtime animal rights advocate.

    The Republican nominee praised the mayor’s support for Ryder’s Law, calling the horse-drawn carriage industry “cruel and barbaric.”

    “Today, for once, I agree with the mayor,” Sliwa said. 

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    Adam Daly

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