WAZE CONNECTED CITIZENS PROGRAM CELEBRATES 100TH PARTNER AT ITS WORLD CONGRESS, SERVING LONDON – Transport for London Joins Free Data Share Program With Hopes to Ease Congestion in London
October 10, 2016 (Queensland, Australia) – Waze, the free, real-time crowdsourced traffic and navigation app powered by the world’s largest community of drivers, announced today at ITS World Congress that Transport for London is the first United Kingdom and 100th global partner to join the Waze Connected Citizens Program. Designed as a free, two-way data exchange, the Connected Citizens Program empowers municipalities to harness real-time driver insights to improve congestion and make better-informed planning decisions.
Launched in October 2014 with 10 city partners, the program now has 100 global partners including city, state and country government agencies, nonprofits and first responders. Transport for London joins other partners across North America, Latin America, EMEA and APAC including the U.S. Department of Transportation (United States), Rio de Janeiro COR (Brazil), Rome Center for Mobility (Italy), and Transportation Management Centre of New South Wales (Australia).
“Getting the latest traffic information direct to drivers when and where they want it is key to enabling them to avoid delays,” said Phil Young, Head of Online at Transport for London. “We have a wealth of open data available and by working with Waze and joining the global Connected Citizens Program, we can not only ensure London’s road users have the information they need to plan their journeys, but we can also draw in more data to help us manage London’s busy road network.”
Established as a two-way data share, Waze provides partners with real-time, anonymous, Waze-generated incident and slow-downinformation directly from the source: drivers themselves. In exchange, partners provide real-time government-reported construction, crash and road closure data to Waze to return one of the most succinct, thorough overviews of current road conditions today.
Unlike many “smart city” programs, the Waze Connected Citizens Program has driven measurable impact since its inception two years ago. From reducing congestion at key city centers of Boston and reducing emergency response times across the U.S., to facilitating infrastructure planning in Rio de Janeiro and crisis response in Mexico, partners continue to reimagine how Waze data can be used to improve urban mobility in their regions.
“Since 2008, Waze has evolved from a traffic app to the change agent in traffic and mobility innovation,” said Paige Fitzgerald, Head of New Business Development – Data Acquisition for Waze. “Harnessing the insights of more than 65 million monthly active users, its Map Editor communities, and varied, data-driven enterprise partnerships, Waze continues to share its unprecedented knowledge base of traffic and driver insights to improve urban mobility across the world.”
It is critical that prospective partners show their dedication to citizen engagement and commit to use Waze data to improve city efficiency. Waze Partners are also expected to measure and share their findings with other municipal organizations, developing case studies that serve as keys to a global set of improvements which can be made for collective mobility.
To find out more about Connected Citizens visit http://waze.com/ccp. To download the free Waze app for iOS or Android, visithttp://www.waze.com/get.
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About Waze
Waze is the social navigation pioneer, leveraging mobile technology and a passionate global community to redefine expectations of today’s maps. Waze is home to the world’s largest network of drivers who work together daily to outsmart traffic and save time and money. The app consistently recommends the fastest routes based on real-time driving and data from millions of users. From traffic reroutes to low gas price alerts and relevant offers from favorite brands, Waze is one of the most comprehensive driving companions in the marketplace.