Canberra Park and Ride 2026: 22 Free Car Parks, 5 That Need a MyWay+ Digital Permit (ACT)

Canberra has 22 Park and Ride car parks where you can park for free and catch a Transport Canberra bus or light rail service, and five of them need a digital permit registered in your MyWay+ account (a sixth, Mawson, has both kinds of space). Transport Canberra’s page says the car parks sit “along rapid bus and light rail routes” and that parking is first come, first served. This guide sets out the 22 sites by region, which ones need a permit, how to get the permit and the rules that apply once you park.

Every fact below comes from the Transport Canberra Park and Ride page, read on 7 November 2026. Where the page is silent, this guide says so rather than filling the gap.

Where are the 22 Park and Ride car parks?

Transport Canberra groups the sites into five regions. The street details below are as published.

Region	Site and location	Permit required?
Belconnen	Belconnen: Josephson Street and Walder Street	No
Belconnen	Bruce: College Street, University of Canberra	Yes
Belconnen	Charnwood Shops: Lhotsky Street	No
Belconnen	Evatt: Chomley Court	No
Belconnen	Jamison Centre: Bowman Street	Yes
Belconnen	Kippax: Moyes Crescent	No
Gungahlin	Gungahlin Town Centre: Gozzard Street, access via Efkarpidis Street	Yes
Gungahlin	Well Station Drive: intersection with Flemington Road	No
Central	EPIC: Flemington Road	No
Central	Fyshwick: Tom Price Street	No
Central	Lyneham: opposite Swindon Street	No
Woden, Weston Creek and Molonglo	Cooleman Court: Liardet Street	Yes
Woden, Weston Creek and Molonglo	Curtin Shops: Carruthers Street	No
Woden, Weston Creek and Molonglo	North Weston: Kirkpatrick Street	No
Woden, Weston Creek and Molonglo	Mawson: Mawson Drive and Athllon Drive, access from Mawson Place	Permit and non-permit spaces
Woden, Weston Creek and Molonglo	Mawson Oval: Beasley Street South	No
Tuggeranong	Calwell Shops: Webber Crescent	No
Tuggeranong	Chisholm Shops: Bentham Street	No
Tuggeranong	Kambah Village: Marconi Crescent	No
Tuggeranong	Kambah Centre: O’Halloran Circuit	No
Tuggeranong	Tuggeranong Interchange: access from Anketell Street	Yes
Tuggeranong	Wanniassa: Athllon Drive, access via Rylah Crescent	No

Counting the table, Belconnen has six sites, Gungahlin two, Central three, Woden, Weston Creek and Molonglo five and Tuggeranong six, which makes the 22 the page refers to. The page marks “permit required” next to five sites (Bruce, Jamison Centre, Gungahlin Town Centre, Cooleman Court and Tuggeranong Interchange) and says Mawson has “permit and non-permit spaces”.

The page also links an official Park and Ride map (PDF, 1.1 MB). Use it for exact positions; the street names above are the only location detail the page text gives.

Which Park and Ride car parks need a permit?

These are the sites the page marks “permit required”:

• Bruce: College Street, University of Canberra
• Jamison Centre: Bowman Street
• Gungahlin Town Centre: Gozzard Street, access via Efkarpidis Street
• Cooleman Court: Liardet Street
• Tuggeranong Interchange: access from Anketell Street

Mawson, with access from Mawson Place, has a mix of permit and non-permit spaces. The page does not say how many spaces fall into each group or how to tell them apart on site; the Park and Ride map (PDF) is linked from the page.

The other 16 sites on the list carry no permit note. Parking at all 22 is described as free, and first come, first served.

How do I get a Park and Ride permit?

Transport Canberra says permits “have transitioned to a digital format”, so there is no physical permit to display on the dashboard. You need a MyWay+ account first. The page sets out three steps:

1. Log in to your MyWay+ account.
2. Select “Park and Ride” from the menu, then select “Add Vehicle”.
3. Enter the vehicle’s make, model, registration state and registration plates.

The page’s other permit rules are:

Question	What Transport Canberra says
How many vehicles?	Up to 3 vehicles under one permit; use the pencil icon under “Action” to add more
Can two people share a vehicle?	A vehicle can only be registered to one account holder. If several account holders use the vehicle, cancel the registration on one account and relink it to the new user’s profile before travelling
Where is the permit valid?	At any Park and Ride location in Canberra
How long does it last?	It expires after 3 months and must be linked to an active MyWay+ account

What happens when the permit expires?

The page gives a three-part renewal route: go to “Account Details” and select “Park and Ride”, choose the “delete” icon under “Action”, then re-enter the required information. The same route is the one to use for updating vehicle details.

Do I have to catch the bus or tram after I park?

Yes. The page says: “To use Park and Ride facilities, you must continue your journey on a Transport Canberra bus or light rail service.” It adds three conditions:

• Your payment method (a MyWay+ travel card or a debit or credit card) and your Park and Ride digital permit must be linked to the same MyWay+ account, “to avoid being penalised”.
• Parking inspectors check your digital permit and validate that a connecting journey has been completed on a Transport Canberra bus or light rail service.
• Your vehicle details in MyWay+ must be correct.

The page does not state the amount of any penalty or how long after parking the connecting trip must start, so this guide does not either. For how fares and tapping work, see our guide to MyWay+ fares on Canberra buses and light rail.

What is Kiss and Ride on the light rail line?

Kiss and Ride is a separate thing from Park and Ride. Transport Canberra describes drop-off and pick-up zones along the light rail corridor that “cannot be used for parking” and where the driver must remain in the vehicle. The page names four locations and refers to a Kiss and Ride map:

• Manning Clark North
• Mapleton Avenue
• Nullarbor Avenue
• Well Station Drive

During light rail service disruptions, the page says these facilities “can be converted into temporary replacement bus stops”. During a disruption, a Kiss and Ride zone may therefore be a temporary bus stop. Well Station Drive appears on both lists: it has a Park and Ride car park at the Flemington Road intersection and a Kiss and Ride zone.

What does the official page not say?

Several questions a driver might ask have no answer on the Transport Canberra page as of 7 November 2026:

• Opening hours or a time limit for parking at any site
• The number of spaces at each car park, or how often they fill
• The penalty for parking without a permit, or for not completing a connecting journey
• How many permit and non-permit spaces Mawson has

For these, the page points readers to its Park and Ride map and to the MyWay+ account tools.

Quick checklist before your first trip

• Pick your site from the table and note whether it needs a permit.
• If it does, open MyWay+, choose Park and Ride, and add your vehicle before you drive.
• Use the same MyWay+ account for the permit and for paying your bus or tram fare.
• Complete a connecting journey on a Transport Canberra bus or light rail service after you park.
• Remember that the permit expires after 3 months.

Sources

• Transport Canberra: Park and Ride (checked 7 November 2026)

Images: Wanniassa park and ride car park (photo: Nick-D / CC BY-SA 4.0) (text added for the featured image); Well Station Drive light rail stop (photo: Grahamec / CC BY-SA 4.0); light rail vehicle at Gungahlin (photo: Mairremena / CC BY-SA 4.0); Tuggeranong Interchange (photo: Totallynotarandomalt69 / CC BY 4.0); Woden Interchange (photo: Totallynotarandomalt69 / CC0); Westfield Belconnen bus interchange (photo: Totallynotarandomalt69 / CC0).

OZ Local Updates is an independent local guide and is not affiliated with Transport Canberra or the ACT Government. Locations, permit rules and MyWay+ steps can change; check the official page above before you travel.