Photo above: The Carquinez Strait and the Carquinez Bridge in the distance, seen from the foot of First Street in Benicia, April 2022. Lhimec, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

If you want a train, Martinez wins. It has a Capitol Corridor station with direct trains to Oakland, and you can drive to Oakland from Martinez without crossing a toll bridge. Benicia has no train station, so from Benicia you either drive and pay a bridge toll on the way home, or ride a SolTrans bus to Concord BART.

That doesn’t settle it for everyone. The two towns sit on opposite ends of the same bridge. Here’s what each commute looks like on paper, with sources, and how to test it before you buy.

How do you drive to Oakland from each town?

From Benicia you cross the Carquinez Strait one way or the other. From Martinez you’re already on the Contra Costa side.

  • Benicia, west route. I-780 to I-80 in Vallejo, then south over the Carquinez Bridge toward Richmond, Berkeley and Oakland.
  • Benicia, east route. I-680 south over the Benicia-Martinez Bridge, then SR-4 or SR-24 toward Oakland.
  • Martinez. SR-4 west to I-80, or I-680 to SR-24 through the Caldecott Tunnel. No toll bridge on either route.

Which Benicia route is better depends on where in Oakland you’re going and what time you leave. Test both.

How much are the bridge tolls from Benicia?

$8.50 per round trip for a two-axle car in 2026, paid on the way home. Both bridges out of Benicia only charge one direction.

  • Benicia-Martinez Bridge: tolls are collected northbound only, at the toll plaza on the south side of the bridge. The 2026 toll is $8.50. A carpool of three or more with a FasTrak Flex tag set to 3 pays $4.25 in the carpool lane on weekdays from 5:00 to 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. (Bay Area FasTrak, Benicia-Martinez Bridge page, checked September 24, 2026).
  • Carquinez Bridge: tolls are collected northbound only (511.org, Carquinez Bridge page, checked September 24, 2026). The 2026 toll for a two-axle car is $8.50 on all seven state-owned bridges (MTC, December 18, 2024).

The toll keeps going up. The Bay Area Toll Authority approved FasTrak tolls of $9.00 in 2027, $9.50 in 2028, $10.00 in 2029 and $10.50 in 2030. Pay by invoice and it’s $10.00 in 2027, rising to $11.50 in 2030 (MTC, “Toll Authority Approves 2026 Toll Hike, Carpool Policy Changes,” December 18, 2024).

Do the math on your own schedule. Five round trips a week at $8.50 is $42.50 a week before gas and parking. Martinez drivers heading to Oakland don’t pay that.

Can I take a train to Oakland?

From Martinez, yes. From Benicia, only by getting to Martinez first.

The Martinez Amtrak station is at 601 Marina Vista Avenue. Capitol Corridor trains stop at Richmond, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland Jack London and Oakland Coliseum on the way south (Capitol Corridor, Martinez station page, checked September 24, 2026).

One example from the weekday schedule: train 521 leaves Martinez at 5:21 a.m. and is scheduled into Oakland Jack London at 6:11 a.m. Train 527 leaves Martinez at 7:43 a.m. and is scheduled into Oakland Jack London at 8:37 a.m. (Capitol Corridor weekday westbound schedule, effective December 8, 2025, checked September 24, 2026). Check the current schedule for the trains that fit your hours.

Parking is the catch. The Amtrak lot has 136 regular spaces and usually fills around 8:00 a.m. on weekdays. Show your ticket to the station agent for a free validated permit. An overflow lot with about 175 more spaces sits across the tracks on Ferry Street (Capitol Corridor, Martinez station page, checked September 24, 2026).

Living in Benicia and taking this train means driving south over the Benicia-Martinez Bridge, which is free in that direction, and paying the toll when you drive home.

Is there a bus from Benicia to BART?

Yes. Two SolTrans routes connect Benicia to Concord BART, where you can ride BART’s Yellow Line through Oakland’s 19th Street and 12th Street stations (BART system map, checked September 24, 2026).

  • Route 70 runs from the Vallejo Transit Center to BART Concord. The Benicia stop is Military West and First Street, at Benicia City Park. On weekdays the first eastbound bus leaves that stop at 5:15 a.m. and reaches BART Concord at 5:42 a.m. The weekday timetable lists 16 eastbound trips. The last weekday bus back leaves BART Concord at 10:39 p.m. and reaches Benicia at 11:04 p.m. (SolTrans Route 70 schedule, effective September 1, 2026).
  • Route 40 runs from BART Concord to the Dixon Park and Ride and stops at the Benicia Park and Ride. The first weekday southbound bus leaves Benicia at 5:41 a.m. and reaches BART Concord at 6:09 a.m. (SolTrans Route 40 schedule, effective September 1, 2026).

SolTrans redesigned its system on August 2, 2026, and changed Routes 40, 70 and 90 again on September 1, 2026 (soltrans.org, checked September 24, 2026). Check the current timetable before you count on a trip.

Martinez has bus links to BART too. County Connection routes run from the Martinez station area to the Concord, Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek BART stations (Capitol Corridor, Martinez station page, checked September 24, 2026).

How long is the drive to Oakland?

We won’t give you a made-up number. No official source publishes a typical Benicia or Martinez to Oakland drive time, and the real answer changes by the hour.

Here’s how to get your own number:

  1. Open 511.org or a map app and set the departure time to when you’d really leave, on a weekday.
  2. Check the trip both ways. Your evening drive home is often the one that hurts.
  3. Then drive it once at that hour before you write an offer. Ten minutes on a screen isn’t the same as a Tuesday at 5:15 p.m.

So which town is better for an Oakland commute?

It comes down to how you’ll get there.

  • Martinez fits better if you want the train, want to skip bridge tolls, or work near Jack London Square or Emeryville.
  • Benicia can still work if you drive and can live with the toll, carpool with FasTrak, or work near a BART station and don’t mind the bus to Concord.
  • Either way, test the commute from the actual street, not the town. A home near a freeway ramp or a bus stop commutes differently from one across town.

Benicia is in Solano County and Martinez is in Contra Costa County, so property tax bills, fees and local services come from different offices. Ask for the current tax bill on any home you’re serious about, and take tax questions to a tax professional or the county assessor.

Questions people also ask

Is there a toll from Benicia to Oakland?

Yes, but you pay it on the way home. The Benicia-Martinez and Carquinez bridges only collect tolls northbound. The 2026 toll is $8.50 for a two-axle car, per Bay Area FasTrak and MTC, checked September 24, 2026. FasTrak tolls are approved to reach $9.00 in 2027 and $10.50 in 2030. Carpools of three or more with a FasTrak Flex tag set to 3 pay less during weekday commute hours.

Does Benicia have a BART or train station?

No. Benicia has neither. The nearest train is the Capitol Corridor station at 601 Marina Vista Avenue in Martinez, across the Benicia-Martinez Bridge. For BART, SolTrans Routes 40 and 70 run from Benicia to BART Concord, per SolTrans schedules effective September 1, 2026. Check the current timetables at soltrans.org before you plan around a trip.

Where do I park for the Martinez Amtrak station?

The Capitol Corridor lot at the Martinez station has 136 regular spaces and usually fills around 8:00 a.m. on weekdays. Show your train ticket to the station agent for a free validated permit. An overflow lot with about 175 spaces is across the tracks on Ferry Street, per the Capitol Corridor Martinez station page, checked September 24, 2026.

Can I bike from Benicia to Martinez?

Yes. The Benicia-Martinez Bridge has a separated path for bikes and pedestrians, per 511.org’s Benicia-Martinez Bridge page, checked September 24, 2026. That links Benicia to the Martinez side, where the Capitol Corridor station is. Ride the route on a weekend first so you know the connections at each end before you rely on it for a weekday commute.

Your next step

Send us the Benicia and Martinez homes you’re comparing and where you work in Oakland. We’ll lay out the drive, the train and the bus for each address, with the tolls, so you can test it before you commit. Talk to a Benicia agent on our team or call (510) 949-5525.

More on Benicia: Living in Benicia, CA · What is there to do in Benicia? · Living in Martinez, CA · What’s my home worth?

By Bill Davis, DRE #01880656, The Davis Team at eXp Realty, Benicia, CA. Updated September 24, 2026.

Sources

  • Bay Area FasTrak, Benicia-Martinez Bridge toll page: bayareafastrak.org/en/tolls/benicia-martinez-bridge.shtml (checked September 24, 2026)
  • 511.org, bridges page (toll direction) and Benicia-Martinez Bridge page (bike and pedestrian path): 511.org/driving/bridges (checked September 24, 2026)
  • MTC (Bay Area regional transportation agency), “Toll Authority Approves 2026 Toll Hike, Carpool Policy Changes,” December 18, 2024: mtc.ca.gov
  • Capitol Corridor, Martinez station page: capitolcorridor.org/stations/martinez (checked September 24, 2026)
  • Capitol Corridor, train schedule effective December 8, 2025: capitolcorridor.org/schedules (checked September 24, 2026)
  • SolTrans, Route 70 and Route 40 schedules effective September 1, 2026, and Routes page: soltrans.org/routes (checked September 24, 2026)
  • BART, Concord station page and system map: bart.gov (checked September 24, 2026)