Allowing community-led bus stop
bench building in Richmond, CA
Spring, 2025
Since 2020, Transbay Coalition works
in the nine-county Bay Area to
advocate for equitable, sustainable
public & active transportation.
We have 8,000+ members throughout
the Bay Area, including over 50 in
Richmond
Who we are
Richmond has well over 100 bus stops
and a significant number of them lack
benches
Richmond residents
are too often forced
to stand while
waiting for the bus
Benches are a matter of justice and community
care
● Being forced to stand for a bus is physically uncomfortable, especially for the elderly and people with disabilities
● Uncomfortable transit experiences push people toward car-ownership which is polluting and worsens traffic
Why some communities don’t have benches at
their bus stops
● Bus stop amenities are the responsibility of the city, not the transit agency, and both cities and transit agencies tend to be short on funds ● Competing city spending priorities
● There are a LOT of bus stops, so the city prioritizes benches for the most used ones
● Not every bus stop has the physical space for a bench to be installed in a way that is ADA-compliant
In response to hearing about a disabled senior waiting for a bus while sitting on the curb in Berkeley, a group of volunteers built and installed an ADA-compliant bench at the stop
Richmond isn’t alone in this problem
Since 2023 the group has installed 80 benches
throughout the East Bay
The benches are highly engineered…
The Duderstadt Bench design has
been used for over 210 public
benches in SF since 2012
Benches are anchored to the concrete
using ⅜” anchors, standard for street
furniture.
Properly installed
ADA-compliant
Allows people to pass unobstructed
Bolted to the ground, cannot move or tip over
https://www.actransit.org/sites/default/files/2025-03/March%202025%20TSDG.pdf https://newspack-berkeleyside-cityside.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/AC_Transit_Multimodal_Corridor_Guidelines_Final.pdf
…And very popular
“The 300+ residents of
Piedmont Gardens thank
you, Mingwei Samuel”
But the project is in a legal gray
area which prevents scaling up to
bench all of Richmonds stops
If fully legalized then:
● The benchers could be allowed to use larger spaces for building workshops (like church parking lots)
● The benchers could openly recruit volunteers and donors rather ● Installations could happen in the open
This policy would fix that and allow for a significant
increase in bus stop bench installations in Richmond
In a
weekend-long
backyard
workshop the
group builds &
installs a dozen
benches
● Roughly 20-40 volunteers pitch in, ages have
ranged from 15 to 73
● Benches are built with readily-available
power tools
● Materials are either bought with donated
funds or directly donated
● Built in a volunteer’s backyard
● Installed at night, often brought to the
location via bike
50 benches in
1 weekend
If fully-legalize, the team could build and install
● Maintenance is straightforward and can be done by the city, the installers, or the community in an “adopt-a-spot” format
● Liability risk to the city is negligible considering that the City of Richmond already has benches at many bus stops
● Community-led and funded bench installations frees up Richmond to spend resources elsewhere ● As AC Transit service cuts loom, longer wait times are likely ● Adding benches to bus stops is a proven method for increasing ridership ● Benches are easy for an experienced team to relocate if necessary ● While to our knowledge, no other city has implemented this program, Berkeley is exploring it, and the City of Oakland has unofficially endorsed community-led bench installations We can solve Richmond’s bus stop problem this
summer
Common questions