Waze adds Clean Air Zones in Bath and Birmingham to its map
The navigation app will alert drivers when they are routed through the zones.
Mapping app Waze has updated its platform to include Clean Air Zones (CAZ) in Bath and Birmingham to help motorists adhere to the scheme and avoid unnecessary charges.
The zones have been introduced to tackle vehicle pollution and congestion in cities by charging those vehicles which exceed emissions standards to drive within a CAZ.
To help motorists keep track of the zones, Waze said its volunteer Map Editor community has added CAZ areas to the app’s map in both Bath and Birmingham and would also now enable users to indicate in the app whether their vehicle is CAZ compliant.
Users will now receive an alert if their planned route goes through a CAZ zone and will allow them to choose whether or not to travel that way.
The firm said it hoped the feature would help drivers avoid charges and ultimately reduce their carbon footprint by finding optimal routes to travel.
The company was previously the first navigation app to offer this type of smart routing when London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) was introduced in 2019.
Ruairidh Roberts, Waze UK country manager, said the map update to reflect the presence of the zones meant “drivers can now be more mindful of their environmental outputs when travelling”.
“Working together, we can outsmart the traffic and provide the route to cleaner air, one notification at a time.”
