When IKEA’s new Reading store opened, it quickly became evident that ample parking space doesn’t necessarily equate to efficient traffic flow. Despite a £4 million investment in access routes, shoppers found themselves trapped in a multi-storey car park for hours. The culprit wasn’t a lack of parking spaces but rather a failure in design and flow management. Hozah® breaks down what went wrong, what maths tells us about parking pressure, and how smarter infrastructure, flow-first design and automation can future-proof your site.
What Happened at IKEA Reading?
Opening weekends are always busy, but no one expects to spend four hours trying to leave a car park.
That’s what happened when IKEA’s new Reading store launched, leaving hundreds of frustrated shoppers queuing in a multi-storey grid car park on a scorching Sunday afternoon. Despite a £4m investment in access routes, congestion built rapidly, exacerbated by a single exit ramp, a busy adjacent road, and no dynamic system to manage flow.
It was a harsh reminder that space alone doesn’t guarantee movement. The way cars enter, park, and exit is just as important as how many spaces you provide.
The Maths Behind Parking Pressure
Designing for demand means understanding how that demand varies.
Let’s say the average daily peak is 750 vehicles, with a standard deviation of 100. A car park with 800 spaces will overflow roughly on 31% of days. With 1000 spaces, that drops to just 1%. These kinds of projections are vital, especially during sales, holidays, or store launches.
Yet having the right number of bays isn’t enough if traffic backs up at exit points. Unlike airports, where customers might tolerate delays for compensation, drivers leaving a retail store aren’t keen to queue or be redirected two blocks away.
This is where automated parking systems shine. With Hozah, traffic flow is streamlined from the moment a driver enters. No tickets. No taps. No stops. Just seamless entry, parking, and exit.
Designing for Real-World Movement
The car park layout matters too.
Traditional grid designs—like the one used at IKEA Reading—can cause choke points, dead ends, and inefficient use of space. Instead, layouts with angled bays, one-way systems, and generous turning space improve entry and exit, reducing driver stress and overall congestion.
A diagonal bay layout, for example, improves manoeuvrability and space efficiency, cutting turning angles and lane width requirements. At a 45° angle, you can achieve up to 23% more efficient use of space than with right-angled bays.
And then there’s the ramp. Gradients must strike a balance: steep enough to conserve space, but shallow enough for safety and flow. A 1 in 10 slope is typically the upper limit.
From Grid to Helix: Better Infrastructure by Design
If IKEA had taken a helix-style approach—a spiral form with continuous one-way traffic flow—they might have avoided the chaos entirely. These designs simplify navigation, reduce congestion points, and improve safety for pedestrians. Crucially, they pair beautifully with frictionless payment systems like Hozah Autopay.
What the Reading gridlock teaches us is that good car park design isn’t just structural—it’s strategic. Planning for spikes, optimising flow, and automating transactions is what keeps modern car parks moving.
Whether you’re building from scratch or rethinking an outdated layout, these principles—combined with the right tech—can save your customers time and frustration.
Ready to Future-Proof Your Car Park?
Get in touch with Hozah’s team of parking flow experts: hello@hozah.com