Waze suggestions to beat the Ramadan traffic

By ahmadzulizwan, 02 May 2019

Do you Waze? I suppose those in the Klang Valley or any of the large cities are more likely to use community-driven navigation tools such as Waze to beat (or at least attempt to beat) traffic. And the Ramadan month is always a good time to know traffic conditions up ahead and save every second you can by planning ahead.

For this, Waze has provided a few predictions and tips to make travelling during the fasting month more bearable.

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Rush hour

Waze predicts the morning rush hour to be worse than the one in the evening. Worst time to be on the road is around 8am to 11am on weekdays, before traffic lets up beginning 3pm (although of course it builds up again as workers head out of office). Those who are already up for sahur and morning prayers should take advantage of the early start and head to office before 8am.

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Mall visits

Air-conditioning and food outlets are prime reasons why shopping malls can get larger crowds than usual. Of course, there’s also the Raya shopping. According to Waze, these places get more visitors between 12pm and 4pm, again more so from 5pm to 6pm. Traffic’s worse during the latter simply because some are going to the malls to buka puasa or going back home for the same reason.

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Fast food

Not that fast food is the best option for dinner, particularly for those who fast, but Waze predicts that the worse times to go to one is from 4pm to 7pm. But for late night snacks anytime after 9pm is fine.

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Bank visits

During the holy month of Ramadan, traffic to banks around Malaysia fluctuates throughout the day. From 7am to 9am, there is a steady increase of people making trips to the ATMs, however, traffic to banks start to rise after the doors officially open at 9.30am before it gets jam-packed between 12pm and 3pm. If you’re only looking for a quick withdrawal at the ATM, do so from 4pm onwards as the crowd gradually dissipates and continues to decrease after that.

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Refuelling

Best times are before 8am because the crowd increases from 9am onwards. The real time to avoid fuel stations according to Waze is the peak hours between 3pm and 6pm as people refuel during their commute back. The stations should get less busy from 7pm and after.