This is the important part of the article:
His plans only work in larger car parks, because the useless space at the edge of bays negates the effects of the space-saving lanes.
It isn't a new idea.
I work for a civil engineer. Anecdotal evidence, I know...
One of matters we care for are parking lots. One of the municipalities that we work for has a 23-page manual solely devoted to designing parking lots. In that manual, it states that for 45-degree parking, they require a 12-foot driving aisle. With 90-degree parking, they require a 27-foot aisle.
So why not run all 45-degree parking? Because for every 7 90-degree spaces you get, you lose 2 if you decide to go 45-degree (rough estimate from a quick sketch in AutoCAD).
Then you have to decide if you are going to allow people to double park or single park, turn both ways to park, have an aisle that allows 2-way traffic, etc. The combinations are endless.
Here are some examples.
45-degree double parking, one-way access:
3348'16.70"N, 11755'35.31"W
This is the large parking lot for Disneyland's Downtown Disney. It's scale allows for extra lanes. Also, one-way traffic alleviates the congestion.
Another example of the same, at Six Flags Magic Mountain:
3425'42.26"N, 11835'44.99"W
If you don't have the luxury of allowing a lot of one-way traffic (multiple lanes each way, for example, the center portion of this lot, at 3651'4.64"N, 11946'34.06"W) then you end up with the situation at the west end of that lot, that requires 90-degree stalls.
The point is that people have been working on this for a long time. Many times the property owners or developers want as many stalls as possible, and if they lose any (even 1 or 2), it's a big, big deal. And the people who design the lots come up with many different possibilities, not just one.
In regards to the original article:
...eureka moment came when his universitys car park was repainted, sticking to exactly the same layout.
Of course it was repainted with the same striping pattern. It was cheaper and easier to do that then redesign it.
Edit:
I read the comments for the article. Some restore my faith in at least a portion of humanity.