“Neigh”-ture calls.
Central Park horse carriage drivers are urging the city for some “relief” when it comes to bathroom access, The Post has learned.
The drivers — who are sometimes forced to use nearby restaurant bathrooms and even go in the street or “diaper” where the horse goes — have been pushing city agencies for “years” to install more hitching posts to safely tether horses, according to industry spokesperson Christina Hansen.
The drivers have also asked for the city to build a permanent carriage stand closer to one of the four public restrooms on the south end of the park where they operate, the rep said.
“Taxi drivers have to pull over, [but] we have to have our horse securely tethered or have someone watch the horse,” Hansen said.
“For a long time we’ve been asking the city for this,” driver Ahmed of added hitching posts. “It’s not a car where I can turn off the engine and take the key and go to the restroom. It’s an animal.”
While it has been a “slow process” with a “lot of back-and-forth” to get their needs met, Hansen said she has seen a willingness from agencies “to work on coming up with solutions.”
The Post was directed by several city agencies to the DOT and Department of Consumers and Worker Protections. Both departments did not immediately return a request for comment.
Hansen admitted that, as a result of limited bathrooms, drivers oftentimes aren’t “as well-hydrated” during the busy winter season.
Park bathrooms aren’t always open at night, she said — and some restrooms are closed for the winter or could have a 30-minute-long line during a ride.
With so few bathroom options, one driver said some workers even urinate in the same “diaper” worn by horses and meant to catch animal feces, according to a video interview posted to YouTube by animal advocate Mike Petrelli.
The drivers’ remarks come just days after a group of Big Apple taxi drivers demanded bathroom break parking placards from the city to prevent cabbies from incurring fines while they do their business.
Hansen told The Post that the carriage drivers have similar challenges during their 9-hour shifts – with the added burden of being tethered to a 1,500-pound animal.
But it’s not always possible to find another driver to look after a horse, Hansen said – which could’ve led to the situation that one driver caught publicly urinating on video, and posted to social media, found himself in on Saturday.
“It’s not my business to ask if people have particular health problems that might cause an emergency situation,” Hansen said in response to the video, calling the incident an “outlier.”
“You can’t leave a horse in an unsafe situation,” Hansen added. “That’s more of a concern.”
Parkgoers said they were sympathetic to the drivers’ plight.
31-year-old Ashley Minkus, visiting from Ohio, said, “If you can do it discreetly, I don’t really care.”
72-year-old Guy Strobel told The Post his “opinion is [to] build some more restrooms in the park.”
However, some city officials – like Queens council member Bob Holden – weren’t as sympathetic to the drivers’ cause.
“This latest incident is just another disgraceful example of why the horse carriage industry has long outlived its purpose,” said Holden, who introduced legislation last year to end the carriage horse driving practice altogether after carriage horse Ryder collapsed and later died.
“They leave their horses unattended every day to go get lunch nearby — they can avoid taking out their penis and peeing in plain sight of the public just as easily,” said Edita Birnkrant, executive director at animal advocacy nonprofit NYClass.
An NYPD officer at the park told another animal advocate this week that they would look for the driver to issue a summons for public urination, Birnkrant said.