Bart passes for East Bay passengers?

BART doesn't have anything like a Fastpass. The range of possible trip lengths is such that a monthly pass would only be worth the cost if if you lived at the end of a line and worked at another end of a line. The closest thing you will find is the high-value discount where you pay $45 and get a $48 ticket.

BART doesn't have an equivalent for the East Bay, but if you just want to avoid going to the ticket machine, you can get either the EZ-Rider or Translink (soon-to-be 'Clipper') cards from BART, which automatically re-load funds onto your card whenever they get to a certain level. Translink works on BART/AC Transit/Muni/Caltrain/GGT while EZ Rider only works on BART (and BART garages). Get a Translink and you don't have to worry about each agency's fares.

I second the EZ-Rider. I've had it for a couple of years now, and it's worked pretty well. I occasionally had instances where the card doesn't work, but usually a trip to the station agent takes care of that. Usually it's a few seconds faster to slap the card on top rather than slipping the ticket in and waiting for it to slide out. Not that I'm impatient, but I can tell there's the slightest of differences.

One time the card stopped working by not auto-loading with my credit card (and no, my credit card had not expired or gone over the limit) and the SA recommended I contact BART. I emailed and got a quick response apologizing for the problem and it was corrected immediately.

I really like the solid feeling of the card (many people put it in their wallets but I like the plastic sleeve and keep it separate) over the flimsiness of the ticket, but that's just me.

The Fast Pass deal on BART in SF was a great stride in transit connectivity--helped to have compliant SF Directors on the Board. Sadly getting the BOD to make a similar deal w/ AC or any other transit agency is unlikely much as IMHO long overdue. We as citizens could care less about paint schemes and service logos we just want the best combination of modes from A to B. And need I add, expecting us to pay completely separate fares for complementary systems we paid taxes to build as a coordinated fabric is just evil.

The 25 cent BART-to-bus discount when transferring from BART to AC Transit is practically worthless. At least with Translink I don't have to worry about getting a paper transfer from the machine anymore.

For getting around in Oakland/Berkeley I wish there was something like a BART Plus pass for inner city trips.

BART Plus began as AC BART Plus. AC gave riders the finger on this about 7 years ago. The excuse was they weren't getting enough of the price. As soon as they quit the price went up. Go figure.