The Bay Bridge is the car commute. Tolls run westbound, into San Francisco. Eastbound is the direction of home. The eastern span’s bike path is a real option from Oakland to Yerba Buena Island, and it stops there — the west span does not carry bikes into the city.
BART is the other commute. Oakland, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Orinda, Lafayette, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, and Concord are the practical central line. Dublin, Pleasanton, Fremont, Hayward, and the Antioch extension work, and they take longer. Ferries leave Oakland, Alameda, and Richmond.
If you need the city most weekdays, live where the trip is boring. Boring is a train platform or a ferry ramp, not a heroic drive from Brentwood.
Towns
Inner East Bay
Oakland
The bridge lands here, and so does dinner.
OpenBerkeley & the north hills
Berkeley
Campus, canyons, and a food culture that predates the trend.
OpenInner East Bay
Alameda
An island of Victorians, beaches, and a main street that still works.
OpenInner East Bay
Emeryville
A small bayfront city wedged between Oakland and the bridge.
OpenBerkeley & the north hills
El Cerrito
Two BART stations and a hill that looks back at the bay.
OpenLamorinda
Lafayette
A downtown you can actually finish walking, plus a reservoir.
OpenCentral Contra Costa
Walnut Creek
The East Bay downtown people drive to on purpose.
OpenWest Contra Costa
Richmond
A working waterfront with a village hiding at Point Richmond.
Open