An influential group that helped bankroll Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign drove an electric car around town and is pushing it as an alternative to the horses. NY1′s Josh Robin filed the following report.
Trotting along Central Park South Tuesday was a custom-built so-called horseless carriage.
Drivers of the horse carriages didn’t seem to notice, but they may want to take the blinders off. If the people behind the car get their way, horse drivers could be trading in the reins for steering wheels.
“It’s a really neat drive, and I think everyone should give it a shot,” said Allie Feldman of NYCLASS.
Although they may want to pay attention to street signs. The starting gate was a no-standing zone. Then, the vehicle ambled for blocks in a bus lane on Fifth Avenue.
Activists said they brought the car here for a test drive by Car and Driver Magazine and The Today Show.
“He’s a news reporter from Car and Driver Magazine, so he might not know all the rights and wrongs of what he’s allowed to do with the vehicle, but that’s not an indication of where the vehicle is allowed to be driven. It’s driven on the road. It’s like a normal car,” said Jason Weinig, who built the horseless carriage.
A normal car, only powered by batteries, with a top speed of 30 miles per hour and an attempted price tag of $ 200,000 or less.
It’s also the latest installment in this only-in-New York saga to get rid of the horse carriages. Depending on who you are, the equines are either cruel relics or a humane tradition.
Mayor Bill de Blasio had vowed to shut down horse carriages within his first days in office. That obviously hasn’t happened. Now, according to the horse carriage industry, opposition to his ban is growing among City Council members.
A representative for the carriages declined to comment.
Insiders said the car isn’t even being discussed as a compromise. Instead, it’s limiting the horses to Central Park, although that’s opposed by the animal rights activists, who say there isn’t enough space.
No matter the politics, and no matter what happens to the horseless carriage, the designer’s love for his creation can’t be disputed.
“I got to tell you, there’s a little bit of separation anxiety to let her go from my place to New York City, but I couldn’t imagine a more fitting place for the car to be,” Weinig said.
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