Pay & Sit Benches: You Sit. You Pay.
November 5, 2019
Recently, a video of a man using the Pay & Sit Benches at the park has risen in popularity on the internet. The man is seen inserting a coin into the coin slot then the metal spikes on the bench retract and can then be sat on. These benches have been seen in Germany but could they eventually catch on and be seen in other places?
Fabian Brunsing is a photographer and designer in Germany and he created the Pay & Sit Benches a couple of years ago. These benches have metal spikes that will only retract when fed a 50 cent euro coin. An alarm will go off after a fixed period of time. A few seconds after the buzzer goes off, the spikes rise again. Initially, he made the benches for people who hate sharing their seats at the park, but what the public has shown is that it could be seen as anti-homeless architecture or possibly raise the possibility of people creating things that are free now but would have to be paid for after the modification.
Students, here at Anaheim, have seen the video and formed an opinion of their own. Coral Marquez, a student here at the colony stated this after watching the video, “Honestly it seems like a good idea for a small number of people because the creator gets lots of money and the rich have no problem spending $10,000 let alone fifty cents. And its bad because it’s a possibility that it will become popular and soon all the benches could be replaced with ones that need to be paid for, plus it can spark the idea of having other things similar to that like having to pay to unlock the water fountain at the park to drink water.” This is only one of the problems pointed out. The public has also spoken out for the deaf community because they wouldn’t hear the buzzer that indicates when the spikes will rise again.
Another student here at the colony, Christina Coronado, gave her opinion on the matter, “Personally I don’t think this is a good idea because if regular benches end up being replaced, that’s just adding onto the list of all anti-homeless architecture. It may not have been the intent with that bench but that’s what it looks like.”
The Pay & Sit benches raise a lot of eyebrows in both good and bad ways. Whether or not it’s in a good or bad way, this is just another topic we will just have to agree to disagree.
karime • Nov 8, 2019 at 2:34 pm
Its cool and everything but benches were made to be sit on whoever. But instead you have to pay 50 cents it just bizarre to me.
Richard Pineda • Nov 8, 2019 at 1:29 pm
I think its dumb that we have benches where you have to pay to sit down since in public affairs, everything should be for everyone on public property. The benches weren’t made for anti-homeless people but it sounds like a waste of money to me just to sit.
Karol Gallegos • Nov 8, 2019 at 8:44 am
A mi esta idea de tener que pagar para sentar te en una banca se me asi ridiculo.No tendriamos que tener que pagar para sentar nos en un parque y en mi punto de vista se me asi anti-homeless cuando ni tienen un lugar para dormir.
Desiree Jimenez • Nov 7, 2019 at 2:24 pm
This sounds very ridiculous to me. Who would spend their money to sit? I think that the inventor won’t make much. I feel like the next thing we’re gonna be charged for is for breathing!! I liked this article because it’s not something everyone talks about every day.
Alberto Ramirez • Nov 7, 2019 at 1:59 pm
Para una persona como yo que simplemente camina por un parque vería esto como una mala idea, pero para el inventor de esto podría ver esto como una buena manera de ganar dinero fácil. En mi opinión, tengo sentimientos encontrados sobre esto
Frida Govea • Nov 7, 2019 at 1:53 pm
It really sucks that big businesses keep trying to find ways to sell things to the public and these pay for benches are just another thing that has been taken over. I think this is a terrible idea because it promotes the idea of anti homeless architecture . The homeless already cannot pay for a home or even a place to live and forcing them to pay to just sit on a bench outside seems awful. Other wise a very interesting article.
Josue Pulido • Nov 7, 2019 at 1:49 pm
esta idea es riduculo en mi opinion, pero al mismo tiempo, ganaria mucho dinero. Tambien la idea de que es para que los homeless no se duerman es horrible, que es algo gratis.
Alfredo Munoz • Nov 7, 2019 at 1:31 pm
Wow ! I am totally shocked, I know the creators intentions were not towards anti-homeless but he ¨made the benches for people who hate sharing their seats at the park, but what the public has shown is that it could be seen as anti-homeless architecture¨, in a way I would also see it as anti-homeless because its mostly for people who hate sharing their seats basically, the public and communities who complain about the homeless living in parks.