Has your Waze been bringing you through weird routes? Here’s why plus a temporary workaround.

Has your Waze been wonky lately? I’ve seen posts on social media where people have been complaining about being brought through longer routes or in directions totally off from their destination. I had some issues in the past with Waze showing me routes that seemed longer but currently, I’m using Google Maps and am pretty satisfied with how it works. But there are hardcore Waze users out there and fret not — there’s a temporary workaround.

Apparently, the Waze team thought it would be more useful for Filipino Wazers if their system steered you away from “restricted areas” for number coded cars. Okaaaay! However, Waze requires you to register your car plate number and if you don’t, the system treats you as forever coded. Yikes!

Looks like the Waze team did not think this one through thoroughly. First off, people may have more than one car with different plate numbers. Second, some senior citizens may have applied for exemption under the number coding scheme.

Well, I found a tip, straight from a Facebook post by Apa Ongpin (thanks, Apa!). Again, note that this is a temporary workaround until Waze gets this feature right. Or removes it altogether.

Fellow Waze users, if you have noticed that Waze has been ‘misbehaving’ this last week, and directing you on routes that are 2x to 3x longer than the obvious, direct route, you are not alone. Like me, you have probably been forced to keep going to “Routes” to select a better one.

Well, here is the workaround: Go to Settings>Driving Preferences>Vehicle details> and select “Taxi”. Waze will once again select the best route automatically, instead of the worst one. You may be wondering what is going on: Waze decided to implement a system that routes cars away from “restricted areas”, such as MMDA number-coded zones, and the various schemes in place in places like Pasig, Taguig, etc. The user CANNOT opt out, or toggle this on and off.

You can read the rest of Apa’s long post here:

Have you experienced Waze being wonky like this? Try the suggested fix and let me know in the comments below if it works.