I’m posting this because I put in a “bug” via the app on my Iphone and although it said I could reply to their response, I see no place to do that.
Here is my bug and response received:
[i]Hi keithhe,
You received a comment on the map issue you reported, from 10.10.2014 on Park Ave, Falls Church - “why does waze always want me in HOV even though I do not ever qualify to be in them??”. An editor from the Waze mapping community wants to solve the problem, but needs some more information.
arlenm2012 on 10.10.2014 08:45 AM:
The HOV lanes are currently configured for the appropriate restrictions according to VDoT’s schedule. The Waze app doesn’t allow users to designate vehicle type or HOV compliance so the HOV lanes are never suggested as routes except when they are open to all traffic.
The response is incorrect. I regularly get advised to get in the HOV/Hot Lanes or HOV, despite the fact that I don’t qualify by time or otherwise.
Here’s why this is a problem… Because the lanes are parallel, Waze believes I did in fact get in them. It is tracking not just my speed in the regular lanes, but all others getting the same incorrect advise. In most cases “other routes” all have the HOV or HOV/Hot Lanes as part of their leg. You see how my correct speeds in the lanes I’m in will unduly impact suggestions for subsequent people as it will see generally slower speeds or gridlock, and occasionally the other way around.
Why not have an option, much like toll roads for Yes or No to HOV???
Sorry, but I drive this all the time and it is wrong a lot.
We’ll need more specifics about when and where waze is routing you onto the HOV lanes.
If you are actually talking about the HOT/Express lanes, then that can be a problem. Waze will route over the Express lanes unless you have avoid tolls selected in the app.
Waze tells us this is not as much a problem as it may first appear. Your speed data is processed independently of the algorithm that is deciding when you have deviate enough from your route to require a recalculation. So waze tells us it is possible that where waze routed you on the express lanes, you stayed on the normal lanes and waze app continue to show you on the purple line on the express lanes, that your speed data is nonetheless be applied to the normal lanes. However, its not really possible for us users to know if this is happening or not.
Just FYI, you did not report a “bug”, you reported a “map issue.” These reports don’t go to Waze developers, they go to volunteer community map editors. All we can do in response to such reports is fix the map if it is incorrect; we can’t change the way the app works.
Bug or Map Issue, not really sure in this case they are not pretty much the same. A map issue, to me, is if two roads that should connect are not, a bug is where it does not correctly route for whatever reason. Perhaps semantics.
I recognize that the Hot Lanes is a different thing than HOV, but here they are one in the same as far as the actual roadways. Deselecting Toll prevents Waze from allowing options I might choose or would be stupid not to, like in the case of the 301 Bridge in Maryland where if I don’t have toll roads selected it will try to route me literally hours around the Washington 495 Wilson Bridge.
Tolls aside, HOV should be a select or deselect option as they are very prevalent throughout parts of the country where people are most likely to need/use something like Waze. It can not tell if I am in those lanes and assumes if it told me to do so I did that. I know it thinks I am there as exits in the HOV versus main lanes are not always the same. If it thinks I’m in traffic in the HOV, where I’m not actually in them, I see that as a significant problem for many people. If I understand Waze correctly, it uses that cumulative data to route subsequent users through the same areas. If my data and obviously others in the same situations’ data is used, it will erroneously keep people allowed in those lane from them.
As these are major commuter routes in this area, and I suspect the same issues are encountered elsewhere, this goes far beyond a few streets here and there not connected properly. Thus a bug, of sorts.
Not entirely semantics. Waze’s data is primarily crowd sourced. If the data is wrong, you should report that and the crowd will fix it. Thus, it does matter what reason waze does not route correctly. If waze routes incorrectly because the map is wrong, then the volunteer map editors (other users just like you and me) will attempt to fix the map and solve the problem. However, as Russ stated, we can’t change the way the app works. So if you report a “bug” in the way the app works, by tapping the “map issue” button under reports, one of us is going to send you message like you received when arlenm2012 attempted to solve the map issue you reported.
Yes, this is a problem. But the problem here is that you are not prohibited from using the Express lanes so waze (IMO) is correctly routing you on them. The issue is that you are willing to pay some tolls, but not all tolls. There is no current mechanism to tell waze that you are willing to pay only some tolls and to distinguish between tolls that you are willing to pay and those that you are not.
Agreed. But the question will become why shouldn’t we route you on the Express lanes even if you have HOV deselected. If I want to pay the toll and have waze route me over the Express lanes then I shouldn’t have to select HOV and have waze consider other routes like I-66 as valid.
Again, waze has stated (although I can not verify) that the process that does this:
is different from the process that does this:
So the developers say they do not need to worry about your conclusion that
Yes, the inability to handle HOV lanes is a recognized deficiency of the app that waze understands. How to avoid HOT lanes for users that do not wish to pay the toll is not an issue that waze is working on as far I am aware. It is an issue that we will continue to wrestle with. But I’m not expecting a real solution any time in the foreseeable future.
Good information. I think I can work around the Hot Lanes issue by deselecting tolls and reselecting when in S. Maryland I guess.
The HOV is another matter though. I have not documented all the times and locations where this has happened, but do often see it trying to get me in there where I do not, and in my case, and will never qualify to be in them. I’ve checked for alternatives at times and all will have HOV as a component. It does believe I’m in them as roads are so close and never figures it out until I’m exiting somewhere and it recalculates. I basically know my way around here, but the ETA calculations as well as potential exit suggestions are thus all wrong.
You say it knows the active times for HOV. Does it also know that if it puts you in them 20 minutes before they go active, given limited exit options in reality, you are in trouble with the mobile blue light disco? I’ve looked many times when this has happened, and all “alternatives” include the HOV, thus the problem.
Soon all the HOV lanes here (95, 495 and 395) will go HOT/HOV, so I suspect deselecting tolls will help that, for this general area. Wont help though on 66, for example…
That is a solution if the Nice Bridge is where you are willing to pay the toll. But we do recognize that this is a problem. And its more of a problem if you are paying for the Dulles Toll Rd and Greenway on your commute. (Or if you are in the NY or SF metro areas where you need to pay for bridge crossings, but don’t want to pay for HOT lanes.)
Have you tried asking for a new route once you have past the HOV entrance. I heard that people have had success with waze locating them on the correct road when forced to recalculate.
Yes. I don’t typically drive over there during the commuting times, but the roads are set up to get you off the HOV lanes before the restrictions go into effect. Of course if there is unusual congestion on the Express lanes that waze is unaware of, waze might think you can get to the next exit before you actually can. But the reports I’m aware of seem to indicate that this is working well. Russblau is really the expert on how the HOV lanes are configured, so he can set us straight if I am getting this wrong. If you have a specific example of waze routing on a particular entrance and off at a particular exit at a particular time when the HOV restrictions are in effect, we can check to see if there are any errors. Waze shouldn’t be routing you on the HOV lanes when the HOV restrictions are in effect.
Yep. Wonder if the additional lanes will make the Virginia construction worth it for Transurban?