September 30, 2026
Parking demand is constantly changing. The busiest day in one area may look very different from another, and peak demand may extend beyond the hours parking teams typically expect. Continuous visibility into occupancy helps organizations understand these patterns more clearly—not only what is happening right now, but how parking assets are used across different days, times, and locations.
Arlington County, Virginia, provides an example of what these patterns can reveal. Saturday had previously been understood as the County’s busiest parking day. Through its Performance Parking Pilot, Arlington gained 24/7/365 visibility into how its parking assets were being used and discovered that in some areas, Sunday actually had the highest average occupancy.
The finding gave the County a more detailed understanding of its parking demand and showed how continuous occupancy data can bring patterns into view that may not be visible without 24/7/365 data.
Arlington County manages a busy curb environment directly across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., where parking competes with loading zones, restaurant patios, rideshare and food delivery activity, bike lanes and other uses.
With high demand for limited curb space, the County wanted a clearer understanding of how its metered parking was being used to improve availability, better manage demand and give drivers more information about their parking options.
As part of a three-year Performance Parking Pilot, Arlington deployed eXactpark™ across approximately 4,600 mostly on-street parking spaces in the Rosslyn-Ballston and Richmond Highway/Pentagon City/Crystal City Metrorail corridors.
With occupancy measured continuously, Arlington could see how demand changed throughout the day and across the entire week.
One of the patterns that emerged was the difference between Saturday and Sunday demand. While Saturday had previously been understood as the busiest parking day, the data showed that in some areas, Sunday had the highest average occupancy.
The data also showed that utilization could be relatively low during the early hours of the paid parking period beginning at 8 a.m., while peak occupancy often continued beyond the end of paid parking at 8 p.m.
Understanding when and where demand occurs gives parking teams more information to support how their parking assets are managed.
In Arlington, real-time occupancy data is supporting demand-based pricing, with rates adjusted according to measured utilization. Continued monitoring allows the County to understand how parking behaviour changes in response to those adjustments.
Real-time availability information can also support guidance and wayfinding, helping drivers identify where parking is available.
But the value of continuous data extends beyond current availability. Over time, it creates a clearer picture of how parking assets are being used and how those patterns change by day, time and location.
For Arlington, one of those insights was higher average Sunday occupancy in some areas. For another organization, the pattern could be a different day, a particular time of day or a specific location.
With continuous visibility, parking teams can identify those patterns and use them to better understand their parking assets and how they are being used.