By Joe Rosato Jr. • July 7, 2025 • nbcbayarea.com
(Image from SFBABC.0rg)
A rogue Bay Area group is making waves by making benches in San Francisco.
Ben Sarig didn’t question the mysterious wooden bench that popped up at his bus stop on Mission Street in the city’s Mission District. He simply sat on it and gave his tired dogs a rest — no questions asked.
“It’s frustrating to stand and wait for the bus, a lot of times it takes twenty minutes for the bus to arrive,” Sarig said scanning the street for his bus. “So it’s pretty nice to sit.”
That seems to be the sentiment of the mysterious group that recently installed eight unsanctioned wooden bench at bus stops along key bus routes in the Mission District. The benches are loosely signed by their makers; a stencil indicates they’re the work of the San Francisco Bay Bench Collective, a group with a proclaimed mission to build and install benches where the city has failed to provide them.
“It’s pretty unbelievable to just decide to do without funding from the government or anything like that,” observed Sarig, who took the news of the rogue benches sitting down. “It’s pretty cool.”
The bench collective’s website provides detailed instructions on how the community can build and install its own benches. Attempts to contact group members for comment was unsuccessful.
The bench collective has already installed dozens of benches across the East Bay. The city of Richmond even passed legislation to legally permit their DIY installation.
But the proliferation of benches in San Francisco apparently caught officials by surprise. Two of the benches were quickly removed after neighbors complained. But the remaining six have earned a sitting ovation for those stuck on the sidewalk waiting for busses.
“I mean if the city’s not going to do anything about it, you’ve got to do it yourself,” said Riley Pfirrmann as she sat on one of the benches waiting for a bus at 16th and Bryant.
A spokesman with the City’s Department of Public Works said the agency was aware of the benches, but expressed concern about the maintenance and liability.
In a statement, the agency said it observed one bench already tagged with graffiti and wondered if the bench collective would be responsible for removing the vandalism? Beyond that it said it would be “willing to work with the bench sponsors on a path forward.”
Near 16th and Bryant, Dawn Valadez gave a thumbs up to the group and its unsanctioned effort to give people a place to take a load off.
“There’s so many people with disabilities in our world and our community right now,” Valadez said, “and sometimes it’s also just — I need a moment to breathe, like I need a moment to sit down and breathe.”
