Electric calche driver not allowed to pick up tourists, according to city

Jacques Prud'homme says he loves his horse like a daughter and would rather be working with her than his new electric-powered carriage.

Prud'homme has been working Old Montreal for 38 years as a calche driver but the stable where he kept his horses closed last year, forcing him to "rehome" the animals outside Montreal.

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Limited in-city stable options led him to the idea of retrofitting a horse-drawn carriage with an electric motor similar to a golf cart and driving tourists around Old Montreal in that instead.

The conversion operation cost him $15,000, but Prud'homme assumed the hippomobile permit he owned would apply to his electric calche as well.

"It's still a calche," he said.

Not quite, according to the Ville-Marie borough.

Caught in red tape

Shortly after introducing his blue and yellow electric carriage to Old Montreal streets, borough officials told Prud'homme his calche needs a horse if he's going to take on paying passengers.

"Mr. Prud'homme owns a permit for operating a hippomobile, but it doesn't apply to an electric calche," said Ville-Marie spokeswoman Anik de Repentigny.

"A permit for operating an electric calche simply doesn't exist," she said.

The borough's hippomobile by-law clearly states that it is "a vehicle pulled by one or more horses."

That's an opinioncalcheoperators like MichelBoisvertshare.

Traditionalcalche drivers disapprove

"It's completely ridiculous and inappropriate," Boisvertsaid.

He argued that horses are integralto acalche's cachet without them it's not at all the same.

Boisvert said he disagrees with horse-freecalchesentirely.

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The horseless carriage may not be making Prud'homme any money, but it is turning heads and earning him praise from those who see the horse-drawn version as cruel and outdated.

Public praise

"People say, 'Alright, you're perfect, you're a good guy for not using a horse,'" he said.

It's a sentiment Prud'homme understands, but doesn't completlyshare he still misses working with his horse.

He welcomes the attention, however, which is helping with his efforts to pressure the city into providing new stables and a place to unload horses and carriages close to Old Montreal.

"It's moving things forward a bit," he said.

New stables needed

Prud'homme said the city on Thursday has agreed to make a loading zone on Mill Street available for his horses and carriages.

He's hoping the borough will make an exception for his electric calche until a new stable is made available in the city.

In the meantime, he's out $15,000 and not making any money off his investment.

"I invested a lot in this, and it's all for nothing. I basically threw $15,000 away," he said.

In the end, he said he'll likely just attach a horse to the front of it and get back to making money the old fashioned way.

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