Navigation app Waze has launched smart routing around Bristol’s Clean Air Zone to help drivers avoid unnecessary fines and reduce overall carbon emissions. Through the support of Waze’s volunteer Map Editor community, who have added permit notifications and a designated CAZ (Clean Air Zone) area to the map, motorists in Bristol are now able to indicate in the app whether their vehicle is CAZ-compliant. 

Drivers will also receive alerts if their route goes through the CAZ zone and can choose whether or not to travel that way. The routing will help drivers steer clear of unnecessary fines and ultimately reduce their carbon footprint by finding optimal routes to travel.

The new regulations, which affect cars, taxis and vans that are driven in the CAZ, have been brought in to tackle vehicle pollution and congestion in the city. The Zone will help accelerate Bristol’s compliance with legal air pollution limits in 2023. 

“Toxic air pollution affects everyone in Bristol and, thanks to the invaluable efforts of our Map Editor community, we’re helping drivers in the area stay CAZ-compliant,” said Waze UK Country Manager, Ruairidh Roberts. “Working together, we can outsmart traffic and provide the route to cleaner air, one notification at a time.”

Waze’s maps are kept up-to-date by a community of volunteer map editors, who work to ensure the new regulations are reflected on the Waze map. Users can then tell the app whether their vehicle is compliant and plan their journeys accordingly. 

Waze was the first navigation app in the UK to support this type of smart routing when London’s ULEZ launched in 2019 in partnership with Transport for London. It now supports routing around 10 of the country’s Low Emission Zones, including Bath, Birmingham, Glasgow, Oxford and Portsmouth.