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The city’s transportation director paused the plans but insists the shelters must be removed. 
After a guerrilla campaign by transit activists to put benches at bus stops, the city added 3 permanent benches. More are planned for 2025. 
Darrell Owens and Mingwei Samuel are two twenty-somethings born and raised in the Bay. And they’ll do just about anything to keep public transit alive. 
Over the last three months, two transit activists have become known as the Bench Guys by placing benches at bus stops that don't offer a place to sit. 
Councilmember Terry Taplin, who has promised to bring more city-funded benches to Berkeley, says he’s hopes they'll be rolled out by summer. 
Vigilante urbanism: A pair of activists have taken up the job of building seating at Berkeley’s bus stops. Will the city step up to meet the need – and fulfill its responsibilities to its residents? 
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. 
Berkeley has replaced one DIY bench with a city-approved one. A pair of activists have added at least four more wood benches in the East Bay. 
A UC Berkeley grad took matters into his own hands placing a bench at a Berkeley bus stop after a tweet went viral of a man sitting on the curb due to a lack of seating available. 
“It’s the sort of thing where someone just needs to step up,” said Mingwei Samuel, who built downtown Berkeley's newest bench.