I have read all sorts about this (mostly about people being fined because Waze takes them through the zone without warning) but I can’t seem to find a definitive answer. How should the zone be marked? The obvious answer is surely just to mark each road entering the zone as a toll road from 7am-6pm?
You’ll find that the CCZ is comprehensively mapped in WME, and is updated fairly quickly when things change thanks to the core London editors who work closely with each other and TfL.
Each entry into the CCZ is in fact mapped to prevent Waze routing into the zone between 7am & 6pm Monday to Friday, but this only works if users have their App settings correctly set to avoid toll roads. It also doesn’t stop Waze routing a user into the zone at 06:59. If the destination is within the CCZ then Waze will always route into the zone.
As they CCZ is restricted using TBRs, then if the Waze servers are having difficulties then there are times when the App may not recognise the CCZs existence, this is not a failure of the map but down to the system that Waze uses, map editors are using the best tools they have available.
You must also remember that Waze is a driving aid. The CCZ is clearly signed and marked on entry, users should always be aware of their surroundings and not blindly follow their sat-nav.
Thank you, I now see how it’s done, but I have to say that I disagree entirely, it does not make sense. It appears that the roads have been ‘cleverly’ split because the cameras are all on the ingress points of the zone, which makes some logical sense, however the section of road marked as a toll in each case is essentially a toll road in BOTH directions, because it is entirely possible that either a] the driver might have parked overnight within the zone, in which case they will be charged upon leaving, or b] they will enter the zone before 7am but leave after 7am, in which case they will charged again. It doesn’t make sense, the toll roads should be two-way in every case!
You only get charged once per day, if you are already within the CCZ then it makes no difference (in regards to routing) whether you leave and return or stay within the zone.
It might be - if it was possible to mark time-based tolls in Waze. But it is not - Waze does not have this feature. The best we have come up with so far is the arrangement you see which I invented. It’s not that easy to see exactly how it works - there is a detailed wiki page on it here.
At the time we implemented this, the CCZ had cameras only on the boundaries and it worked perfectly. The cameras only check inbound traffic - vehicles leaving the CCZ are not registered. So only the inbound segments need to be marked as toll.
It’s worth noting another reason for not marking outbound segments as toll. Years ago, we did have every segment marked as 2-way toll and I picked up a bunch of strange reports. One single outbound segment had not been marked as toll - and drivers from all over the area were being routed out via this single segment! By not marking outbound segments as toll, we avoid the risk that one will be missed and introduce strange routing.
Right now, the CCZ is mapped as well as it possibly can be. Believe me, a great many experienced editors have looked at this problem and haven’t found anything better. However, it isn’t perfect: TfL have introduced some cameras inside the CCZ in the last couple of years. We don’t know where they all are or how many they will add. So Waze will route you into the CCZ if you pass the boundary before 7am - but you might then be caught by an internal camera after 7am.
We obviously can’t use something as complicated as my Time-Based Toll Restriction method on every road in the CCZ - even if we managed to do it, the CCZ would become so complicated as to be completely uneditable. There is no sign of Waze introducing native TBTR, so we can’t set that on all the CCZ segments.
However, all is not hopeless. Waze have been doing some work over the last couple of years on restricted zones. There’s a system in Brazil where you can only drive into the city on certain days of the week if your number plate ends in a particular number. Something like 1/6 on Monday, 2/7 on Tuesday and so on. Waze are now looking to expand this functionality and are interested in applying it to the London CCZ. I wouldn’t hold your breath, but improvements are on the way.
I see, I noticed an issue where the Piccadilly underpass hadn’t been marked but I see it has been done now anyway. Thank you for the reply, useful information.