SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio City Council is expected to vote on the future of horse-drawn carriages in the downtown area. The companies involved employ nearly 300 people to keep their businesses running. This has been a discussion between the city and workers for two years.
City Council will vote to either keep the horse-drawn carriages operating in downtown San Antonio or phase them out in a three-year plan.
If approved, the ordinance states only 25 permits will be given for carriages to operate. These permits can be renewed up to 2028 but permits for new carriages cannot be issued.
The Animal Services Department would also no longer license new horses to be used for downtown transportation starting Thursday.
The last amendment would limit the hours when the horses can be out working. The duration would decrease every six months until the end of 2027.
For the workers, current carriage drivers could receive help to transition to a different tour guide role downtown or take on a completely different job through the city's Ready to Work program.
Over the summer, survey results showed over half of respondents supported getting rid of horse-drawn carriages.
In August, voters supporting the ban said it was necessary to alleviate downtown traffic and prevent animal cruelty.
"Even though that number is already extremely underrepresented, these people continually show us time and time again not only that we can't trust them, but that they can't abide by the rules. Profit is really of utmost importance to them, not welfare and public safety," Mariah Smith, San Antonio Community Activist, said.
There has been pushback from the other side as well.
On Monday, a group of horse carriage owners held a press conference urging city council to allow them to continue running their businesses.
In a media statement, they said:
"We have five horse-drawn carriage companies, all women-, minority-, and LGBTQ-owned in San Antonio. They employ close to 300 people, with many, many horses that work with their owners to make great memories for visitors downtown."
Horse-drawn carriages have been part of downtown San Antonio for over 150 years. The owners say they preserve the stories of the Old Spanish Trail and Camino Real.
City council will meet at 9 a.m. to make a decision. We'll be following this story closely.