No reason to change your commute
You do not need to arrive earlier, choose a different weekday or switch car parks on the strength of this early result. Parking followed the same broad morning decline and afternoon recovery, and spare capacity remained throughout the observed weekdays.
This is an early check on commuter parking, not proof of zero impact or a verdict on the trial’s value to shoppers and local businesses. The chart and figures below show what we found.
We compared four complete weeks before the trial, 3–28 August, with its first four complete weeks, 31 August–25 September 2026.
Each group has 20 weekdays, with four examples of every weekday. Both fall within NSW school Term 3. The comparison asks whether available spaces and the time-of-day pattern changed. Parking counts cannot tell us which cars belonged to shoppers or commuters.
The before-and-after curve
Both periods show a morning decline, an early-afternoon low and an evening recovery. At 8 am the median fell by four spaces; at 10 am it fell by 4.5, and at noon by 3.5. These are small shifts in a 200-space car park, rather than a move from spare capacity to full.
At 10 am: 87.5 spaces before and 83 after. All 20 days in each period have readings at that checkpoint.
| Time | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 am | 137.5 | 133.5 | −4 |
| 9 am | 102 | 99.5 | −2.5 |
| 10 am | 87.5 | 83 | −4.5 |
| Noon | 74.5 | 71 | −3.5 |
| 2 pm | 72.5 | 70 | −2.5 |
| 6 pm | 128.5 | 117 | −11.5 |
At 6 pm, the after-period median was 11.5 spaces lower. That evening difference is more consistent across the four weeks than the small change at 10 am, but both periods still had ample room. It does not warrant a change to commuter advice or identify why the counts changed.
The lowest retained reading between 6 am and 6 pm was 52 spaces before and 45 after. Neither period reached the app’s 16-space practical-full threshold. This describes the observed weekdays; it does not guarantee future availability.
Weekday differences in the sample
The direction and size of the differences varied by weekday. These variations do not establish a reason to change which day you commute. At noon, Tuesday’s median fell by 14 spaces, from 63.5 to 49.5. Thursday moved the other way, from 62 to 66.5. Friday remained the quietest of the five weekdays at noon.
| Weekday | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 91 | 84.5 | −6.5 |
| Tuesday | 63.5 | 49.5 | −14 |
| Wednesday | 68.5 | 66.5 | −2 |
| Thursday | 62 | 66.5 | +4.5 |
| Friday | 116.5 | 116 | −0.5 |
Tuesday already had ten fewer median spaces at 9 am, before weekday shopper entry begins. That is one reason not to attribute the whole difference after 10 am to the trial. Four examples of a weekday are also a small sample.
The trial rules in full
The NSW Government announced a 12-month trial: non-commuters can receive up to three hours free when entering after 10 am on weekdays, or at any time on weekends. Longer stays incur a $30 weekday flat fee, or $5 on weekends and public holidays.
Eligible public transport users retain the conditional 18-hour benefit. Check the current Transport for NSW conditions and signs when you travel.
How we made the comparison
We read 57,567 saved Beverly Hills observations for the 40 weekdays, representing 13,017 distinct source updates. The reported capacity stayed at 200. All counts were within range, and no change of 40 or more spaces within ten minutes was found. Overnight readings of 200 spaces were retained where surrounding readings were consistent; an empty car park is not by itself a data error.
For each day, we used the nearest distinct Transport for NSW source update within five minutes of each 15-minute checkpoint, from 6 am to 6 pm. Earlier updates win a tie. Repeated minute-by-minute polls of the same update do not count as extra days. Of 1,960 possible day/time samples, 1,957 were available; three missing samples were left out. Every value in the two tables has all four examples per weekday.
Source updates had to be collected within ten minutes, allowing up to two minutes of clock difference between the source and collector. We did not use the stored freshness field because it can report zero even for an older source timestamp. No missing values were filled, and no database records were changed.
The chart shows the median, the middle value of the daily readings at each time. With an even number of days, a median can end in half a space. Both groups exclude weekends and contain no NSW public or school holidays. This balances weekdays and school-term timing, but does not control for weather or transport disruptions.
How uncertain is the change?
At 10 am, the observed median difference is −4.5 spaces. Resampling days within each weekday 5,000 times gives a 95% interval from −11 to +5 spaces. Resampling complete weeks gives −11 to +7. Both include no change, so the evidence does not establish a clear overall 10 am shift.
At 6 pm, both resampling methods give −17 to −6 spaces. Leaving one week out of each group still gives a reduction of eight to 16 spaces. These are descriptive checks on a small sample, not proof that the trial caused the difference. Nearby times are related observations, not independent tests.
Download the comparison data, daily samples and method. The source queries, counts and checksums are included for review.
What a later check can answer
More weeks can show whether parking becomes meaningfully harder for commuters, rather than simply whether small differences persist. NSW spring school holidays begin after this comparison, so a later term-time update should keep those days separate. Establishing the trial’s effect would also need a suitable comparison car park or separate information about shopper use.
Your usual live check
Check today’s spaces as usual.
ParkRide Planner shows the latest available spaces and when the reading was updated. Checking before you leave remains sensible, as it was before the trial.
Read the original 13 August pre-trial study
This earlier 49-weekday study used a different, longer window. It remains a historical reference and is not mixed into the new four-week comparison.
Original pre-trial study: 18 May–9 August 2026
In the original article published on 13 August, ParkRide Planner analysed 49 normal-term weekdays from to . NSW public holidays and school holidays were excluded.
- The median was 106 spaces available at 10am, just over half the 200-space car park.
- Availability then declined gradually to a median of 96 spaces at 2pm.
- The typical low point was around 12:45pm to 2pm, not immediately after the morning peak.
- Every included day still had at least 58 observed spaces available at the tightest 15-minute checkpoint between 10am and 2pm.
- The car park did not become practically full on any of the 49 included weekdays.
These original results describe an earlier 12-week period. They are preserved here, but are not the four-week before group used in the new comparison above.
What the curve shows: parking continued to decline gradually after 10am, reached its typical low around early afternoon, then began returning. It did not approach ParkRide Planner's practical-full threshold.
Typical spaces available by time
| Time | Median available | Middle half of days | Days with 50+ spaces |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00am | 118 | 105-126 | 49 of 49 |
| 10:00am | 106 | 94-120 | 49 of 49 |
| 11:00am | 102 | 89-113 | 49 of 49 |
| 12:00pm | 98 | 84-108 | 49 of 49 |
| 1:00pm | 97 | 82-105 | 49 of 49 |
| 2:00pm | 96 | 81-107 | 49 of 49 |
Tuesday was the tightest weekday; Friday had the most room
In this original study, spare capacity was not identical every day. Tuesday had the lowest median availability, while Friday was consistently quieter. Even on Tuesday, the median still left 88 spaces at 10am and 78 at 2pm.
| Weekday | Days analysed | 10am median | 2pm median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 9 | 106 | 97 |
| Tuesday | 10 | 88 | 78 |
| Wednesday | 10 | 97 | 84 |
| Thursday | 10 | 112 | 101 |
| Friday | 10 | 138 | 126 |
Original method: 18 May–9 August 2026, excluding NSW public and school holidays; nearest usable saved observation within five minutes of each 15-minute checkpoint. Its original values and dataset are unchanged. Download the original pre-trial dataset.
Sources and disclosure
- NSW Government trial announcement, 12 August 2026, for the start date and parking rules.
- NSW Education 2026 calendar, for Term 3 and spring school holidays.
- Transport for NSW Car Park API, for source parking observations retained by ParkRide Planner; read on 26 September.
ParkRide Planner is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Transport for NSW. Parking readings cannot reserve or guarantee a space.