An intelligent parking system was launched in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, allowing cars to leave before paying parking fees around the city for the first time, Xinhua reported.

Currently the system covers all the districts and counties in Hangzhou, with access to over 260,000 parking spots.

After Hangzhou residents register to the system with their mobile phone numbers through Alipay or 30 other methods, they will be able to park and leave before paying fees in the city's open parking areas.

The system shares all data from the intelligent parking lots with the government, promoting city management in the digital era.

Shared information also enables timely control of road traffic. New parking lots with more reasonable distribution will also be constructed by the ministries of the government according to demand.

Other services, including intelligent parking guidance, car searching, parking spot ordering and shared parking spaces will be put into operation in the future.

"For the next step, Hangzhou is going to establish an integrated transportation service system both online and offline, providing a series of mature solutions that will help relieve the pressure of car parking in the city," said Zhu Yunfu, chief executive of Hangzhou CBD Investment Group.