Hangzhou launches parking app to ease driving headache

HANGZHOU, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Driving around a city looking for a parking lot in vain? A parking app launched in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou on Thursday may ease the pain.

The app gathers information about empty parking spaces and displays the cost of parking.

Companies or individuals can post information about private parking spaces they own and others can book and pay for them.

The spaces are also divided into different types, for example, those in the shopping malls may be open around the clock, while in residential areas they may only be available at certain times.

The city government, public organizations and residential areas have taken lead in posting their spaces on the platform.

Li Lei, head of Hangzhou urban management commission, expects more residents to share their private spaces on the platform.

Besides convenience, sharing of parking resources can help the city save a great sum of money on new infrastructure, he said.

Hangzhou currently has 1.27 million vehicles, and only 700,000 parking spaces, 180,000 of which are public. Enditem