Commuting from the East Bay to Marin County
- See also: Commuting from Alameda to Marin County
Parent Q&A
I commute from Pinole/Hercules area to Marin. The morning commute is tricky but it is also tricky from Richmond because the problem (as you probably know since you are doing this from Oakland) is the bridge. I have been able with my schedule to leave between 5-530am and then the commute is a breeze. I take the Richmond Parkway and not 80 most days.I used to commute from Oakland to Marin and the Pinole commute is easier than that since you don’t also have to drive home on 80.
The afternoon commute, at least when I leave has been fine since they put another lane on the bridge, however the Richmond Parkway does get backed up at around 4pm- I’m lucky I can arrive early and leave early from my job. With the hours I arrive and leave it takes me 25-30 in the morning and 45 in the afternoon (I’m able to leave around 315 from Marin). If I leave at 4 it takes me about an hour from Marin.
It has been worth it for us because we have bought a lovely home in a wonderful community. I can’t speak to the SF commute though. There is a transbay bus that leaves from Hercules and also a shuttle to El Cerrito BART that many people take.
I work in Martinez and commute from El Cerrito, which is counter commute and takes me about 25 minutes. Martinez to SR is in the commute direction and I would estimate 60 minutes one way, if there is not an accident on the bridge. Personally that is too much commute for me but YMMV. I also wanted to note that many of my coworkers have kids in the public schools in Martinez Unified and it sounds like a mixed bag (honestly, just like every other public school system). My family considered moving to Martinez in the last year so I could be closer to work but decided that based on the things we look for in a school, MUSD wasn't particularly different (better or worse) than WCCUSD, our home district (again, a mixed bag, I am not trying to denigrate it). High school football is a very big deal at Alhambra High School (the main high school in Martinez), so maybe that's a draw or a detraction for you.
Part of Martinez feeds to Mount Diablo Unified School District, which was of more interest to us because the specific schools that Martinez residents attend are relatively higher rated, but my partner ending up squashing that because that district is close to insolvent. (I would have done it, though, just goes to show you that different criteria in schools are important to different people.) Also that part of town is even further from the freeway, thus making an even longer commute for you.
Commute will be similar if not slightly worse. You still have to cross the same bridge. But then you'll have to deal with getting from Hwy 4 to 80 and then over to 580. It's Richmond Parkway or Carlson. You'll either have lots of signals and some traffic or some traffic and lots of signals. You might want to take a look at what the Martinez to El Cerrito BART trip would be like. IDK, but I suspect it's not that great. Or would he go to Concord? That part of Hwy 4 gets really bad.
Martinez is a nice town with nice parks/open spaces. But it also has the court house, jail and refineries.
Hope this helps - Good luck