Giving our city more places to sit.
Request a bench or let us know that yours needs maintenance with an email: rvabenches@proton.me
We are a decentralized collaboration of neighbors who want more benches in Richmond - so we are building, installing, and maintaining benches in Richmond.
Email us to request a bench placement, report a bench in need of repair, or if you want
to get involved — we welcome donations of time, tools, materials, or funds.
If you just want to do it yourself, we have guides for the bench that we build.
Benches are a statement that this bus stop is for the community, it is to be used. Too many of Richmond's bus stops lack benches and shelters, requiring riders to stand in the elements for extended wait times. GRTC's local routes have wait times up to an hour, before delays.
For the mobility-impaired, the younger, and the older, standing for this long is an unreasonable ask. But for all of us, it should be seen as an indignity. Being told to stand in Richmond's summer heat or freezing cold tells us citizens that your comfort only matters if you can drive a car. Richmond's Vision Zero prioritizes promoting safe, healthy, and equitable mobility for everyone, including alternatives to driving. Any efforts that make GRTC a more appealing trip option help cut down on the number of cars on the road, the amount of traffic, and the potential for road injuries.
Beyond the annoyances, benches are a statement on civil inclusion and a belief that public spaces should be for the public. You are allowed to linger, take up space, and do so in some manner of comfort and dignity. They have disappeared from sites across the country. And as we grow more and more isolated, they provide some basic space to exist alongside community members — there are campaigns to put a bench on every corner. Gabrielle Bruney writes that "when seating disappears, our relationship with public space becomes more grudging and utilitarian. Benches are symbols of hospitality, an invitation to participate in the civic realm."
To create a little more Richmond hospitality, we invite you to sit for a spell, scroll your phone, enjoy a book, or take in the day while you wait.
With gratitude, we have taken inspiration from the Chattanooga Urbanist Society, The San Francisco Bay Area Bench Collective, and anybody else building DIY infrastructure for their community.