A pair of Berkeley residents say they got tired of waiting for others to solve one of their community's challenges. The issue? No place for the elderly to sit while they wait for buses.
So, they decided to fix the issue themselves and the city took notice.
“Anyone who rides the bus and is waiting for the bus as well should have a place to sit while they wait,” said Mingwei Samuel. “It’s really just about treating bus riders with respect."
The 25-year-old said he started building bus bunches after seeing a photo of a senior who just gotten surgery sitting on a street curb because his Berkeley bus stop didn’t have a bench.
“It was quite you know upsetting that you know we treated our bus riders like that,” said Samuel.
He installed his own handmade bench at the MLK Way stop. It got such positive feedback so he made more, teaming up with transit activist Darrell Owens.
“Our number one goal is to make transit riders safe, that's our issue,” said Ownes.
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The city of Berkeley has removed and replaced Samuel’s first bench with a metal one. While the city didn’t respond to NBC Bay Area’s request for comment, they told Berkeleyside the home made benches could pose a safety risk. Something that doesn’t sit well with the activists who say sitting on a curb is what’s dangerous.
“If you’re sitting on a curb, it’s hard for the bus driver to see you. You’re in the path of vehicles. That’s not where anyone wants to be,” said Samuel.
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Transit riders said they’re grateful for the benches.
“I personally enjoy the fact that someone’s going out of their way to put in these benches as a student here, this is one of the common stops that a lot of people take and I feel like there are some people who need to sit down. They can’t be standing up all day,” said bus driver Joel Rubio.
The so-called “Guerilla Bench” makers say every transit rider deserves a safe place to sit as they wait for their ride.
“We’re gonna keep building them so as long as the city doesn’t put down benches, we’re going to do it for them,” said Ownes.
“It feels good to be able to do that. It’s nice to build something and see people using it and making a positive impact in that way it feels really great,” said Samuel.
The bench makers say they’ve improved their design and installation. They’ve started putting benches at Oakland bus stops too and say Richmond and Fremont will start seeing them next.
