Horse-drawn carriages to return to the Old Market with new safety measures

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    OMAHA, NE (WOWT ) — You will soon see the iconic horse carriages in the Old Market, but the way the business will now run has been completely revamped in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

It’s been over two months since the horse-drawn carriages have been fully operating here in the old market but, tomorrow you’ll start to see the horse-drawn carriages back out on the streets.

The owner of the horse carriages, Mark Donovan tells me he was considering retirement after 42 years of running the horse carriage service. He tells me he loves his job so much he wanted to see it back in the Old Market.

Now he’s making changes to protect customers and his drivers. There’s now Plexiglas on the carriages you’ll see out.

The cloth seat carriages won’t be out on the street, only the ones with vinyl seats will be out so they can be sanitized

“it’s probably one of the more safe activities that you can actually do in this day in age with all the precautions we’re taking with our Plexiglas partitions, Hans sanitizing, if we have to do cash or credit card transactions we wear disposable gloves, we sanitize before and afterward. There are just so many detailed aspects that I never would have considered before up until now,” said Donovan.

Last night Donovan did a test run in the old market. He says people were excited to see him back out on the streets.

Donovan also tells me people will no longer be able to pet the horses in an effort to keep them safe.

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