N.Y. Council Votes a Whoa on Horse-Drawn Carriages

The horse-drawn carriages that hundreds of thousands of tourists ride and photograph will mostly disappear from mid-town Manhattan streets under a bill approved late Thursday by the City Council.

The bill, which drivers said could destroy their business, would bar the popular carriages from mid-town streets except between midnight and 7 a.m. to protect the horses from heat and traffic, said its main sponsor, Councilman Robert Dryfoos.

“When carriage horses were of yore 100 years ago, Manhattan was an oasis. Now, mid-town Manhattan is a jungle. I want to take them out of the asphalt jungle,” Dryfoos said.

The bill, which now goes to Mayor Edward I. Koch, would ban horse carriages entirely during rush hours. During non-rush-hour periods between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., the carriages would be restricted to Central Park. From 7 p.m. to midnight, the carriages would be allowed on city streets except in the congested mid-town area, and from midnight to 7 a.m., they would be allowed in mid-town as well.