Need Toronto traffic info? There’s an app for that

The City of Toronto has started streaming traffic data to navigation app Waze in what Mayor John Tory hopes will be the first of many such partnerships.

Tory announced the agreement, which will also see Waze give the city information, Monday in the city’s traffic communications centre on Don Valley Rd.

California-based Waze, bought by search engine giant Google in 2013, gives drivers map-based, turn-byturn navigation and traffic information. Users can electronically report accidents, traffic jams and other hazards, helping the app instantly identify drivers’ arrival times and the quickest trouble-free routes.

Waze is getting city data including road and lane closures, areas of heavy and light traffic, traffic-inducing special events such as last Sunday’s Santa Claus Parade, accident locations and construction sites.

The city is getting anonymous data gleaned from movements of the more than 560,000 local Waze users.

No money is changing hands under the partnership. Waze earns revenue via in-app advertising based on the location of the user.

Tory said he is frequently a passenger on the way to events and uses Waze to navigate with great results. He is keen on other such partnerships.

“This is the way of the future,” Tory told reporters.