Almost every 50cc scooter rider reaches for Google Maps. It is free, it is already on the phone, and it knows every street in town. So you punch in the destination, set off, and ten minutes later you are sitting at a junction watching the blue line march straight onto a four-lane road where cars are doing 80 km/h and your scooter tops out at 45. Google Maps is not malfunctioning. It was built for cars, and you are not in one.
This guide does two things. First, the genuinely useful part: the exact taps to make Google Maps avoid highways on a 50cc scooter, on both iOS and Android, plus the same for Waze. Then the part nobody tells you, which is why those settings still leave you exposed, and what to do instead. I ride a small scooter myself and I build Urban Rider, so treat me as a biased but honest source.
How to make Google Maps avoid highways and tolls
Google Maps has no scooter or moped profile in Europe or North America, so the trick is to use the driving directions and strip the fast roads out of them. The steps are nearly identical on iPhone and Android.
- Search for your destination and tap Directions.
- Make sure the driving tab (the little car) is selected, not transit or walking.
- Before you start, open Route options. On most versions you tap the three-dot menu in the top corner, or the ... next to the route summary, then choose Route options.
- Switch on Avoid highways and Avoid tolls (and Avoid ferries if you like).
- Tap Done. The route redraws to keep off motorways where it can.
On iOS the Route options panel appears in the same place; the toggles are remembered for future trips until you change them. On Android the layout is the same, though the exact wording moves around between app updates, so look for the gear or three-dot icon near the route. That is the whole procedure for scooter friendly routes in Google Maps, and for most short trips it does help.
How to make Waze avoid highways
Waze keeps the same setting in a slightly different place, and it sticks globally rather than per trip.
- Tap the search button, then the Settings gear.
- Open Navigation.
- Turn on Avoid highways and Avoid toll roads.
- Go back and route as normal.
The path is identical on iOS and Android. Waze is excellent for live traffic and hazard reports, and the avoid-highways toggle will steer you off obvious motorways, which is worth having.
The catch: "avoid highways" does not mean "avoid dangerous roads"
Here is the part that catches riders out, and it is worth reading twice. The avoid highways setting only avoids roads that the map data classifies as motorways. It does not avoid fast, wide, intimidating roads. Those are two very different things.
Picture a typical city ring road or arterial: three lanes each way, an 80 km/h limit, no shoulder, traffic that does not expect a 45 km/h moped. To a car-routing engine that road is not a motorway, so the avoid-highways filter leaves it firmly in play. Google Maps, with the toggle on, will still route your 50cc scooter straight down it, because as far as the data is concerned nothing was excluded. The setting did exactly what it promised; it just never promised what you needed.
There is a second, quieter problem. A car-routing app estimates your arrival time at car speed. It assumes you will hold 60 or 70 km/h on that arterial. Your scooter cannot, so the route it picks as fastest is often not fastest for you at all, and the ETA is wrong from the first turn. You plan your day around a number the app calculated for a vehicle you are not riding.
So you are left manually toggling avoidances trip after trip, and even then the app has no idea your vehicle is capped at 45 km/h, no idea a moped is banned from certain tunnels and trunk roads, and no idea how long the journey really takes. An avoid highways app setting is a blunt instrument standing in for something far more specific: vehicle-class routing.
What a scooter actually needs from navigation
Strip it back and a 50cc rider needs three things a car app cannot give:
- Roads your class may legally use. Not just "no motorways", but no fast trunk roads or tunnels a moped is barred from, off by default rather than toggled on by hand.
- Honest arrival times. ETAs calculated at real two-wheel speed, so the route chosen as quickest is actually quickest for you.
- A display you can read at a glance. One instruction, one distance, one speed, because a handlebar is not a desk.
The fix: routing that knows your vehicle
This is the app I make, so weigh that accordingly. Urban Rider starts from a question Google Maps never asks: what are you riding? You pick your vehicle and your speed class, whether that is a 25 km/h or 45 km/h moped, a 50cc scooter, a 125cc commuter or a bicycle. From there the routing actually understands the difference between a quiet urban street and a fast arterial, and keeps you off the roads your class cannot use, excluding highways and major trunk roads by default for scooters and mopeds.
Because it knows your real speed, the arrival times are calculated at two-wheel pace rather than car pace, so the ETA reflects the ride you are actually taking. The navigation view stays glanceable, showing just the next instruction, the distance and your speed; your next turn also shows on Apple Watch so the phone can stay clamped to the bars; and electric riders get charging stops along the route. There is no account, your route history stays on the device, and it is free and native on both iOS and Android.
The honest caveat: Urban Rider is younger and smaller than Google Maps, and for live, crowd-sourced traffic jams Waze still has the edge. But for the daily question of how a 50cc scooter should actually cross town, starting from the vehicle beats bolting avoidances onto a car route.
Google Maps and Waze vs Urban Rider
| What you need on a 50cc scooter | Google Maps / Waze | Urban Rider |
|---|---|---|
| Asks your vehicle and speed class | No | Yes (45 km/h, 50cc, 125cc, plus bike) |
| Avoids highways | Manual toggle, per trip or global | On by default for scooter and moped |
| Avoids fast trunk roads and arterials a moped is barred from | No, only motorways are filtered | Yes, by vehicle class |
| Arrival times | Estimated at car speed | Real two-wheel ETAs |
| Glanceable riding display | Car-oriented screen | Glanceable view + Apple Watch |
| Price and platforms | Free; iOS, Android | Free; iOS, Android |
The practical takeaway
If Google Maps is all you have, turn on Avoid highways and Avoid tolls in Route options, and do the same in Waze. It is better than nothing and it will keep you off the obvious motorways. Just ride with your eyes open: the moment a route hands you a fast multi-lane arterial, the app has stopped looking after you, because it never knew you were on a scooter in the first place.
For the daily ride, an app that asks what you ride and routes accordingly will save you the manual fiddling and the wrong ETAs. If you want to go deeper, I compare the best scooter and moped navigation apps, walk through a free scooter and moped route planner, and put Google Maps up against Apple Maps for two wheels.
Navigation built for your scooter, not a car
Urban Rider routes your moped or scooter onto roads it is actually allowed to ride, avoids highways by default, and gives arrival times at real scooter speed. Free, no account needed.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make Google Maps avoid highways on a scooter?
Enter your destination and tap Directions, choose the driving (car) tab, then open the three-dot menu or Route options and switch on Avoid highways and Avoid tolls. On both iOS and Android the setting lives under Route options and applies to that route. There is no scooter or moped profile in Europe or North America, so you are simply giving the car route fewer fast roads to choose from.
Does avoid highways in Google Maps keep a 50cc scooter safe?
Not reliably. Avoid highways only excludes roads classified as motorways. It does not exclude fast multi-lane arterials and dual carriageways with 80 km/h limits, because those are not technically motorways. A car-routing app will still send a 45 km/h moped onto an intimidating arterial road, and it will still estimate the journey at car speed.
Does Google Maps have a 50cc scooter or moped mode?
Only in some countries. Google Maps offers a two-wheeler mode in parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America, such as India, Indonesia and the Philippines, but not in Europe, North America or Australia. Even where it exists it is tuned for motorcycle speed and shortcuts, not for the roads a 50cc moped is legally allowed to use.
How do I make Waze avoid highways and tolls?
Open Settings, tap Navigation, then turn on Avoid highways and Avoid toll roads. On iOS and Android the path is the same. Like Google Maps, Waze has no scooter class, so the route still behaves like a car and can place you on a fast trunk road that is not labelled a motorway.
What is the best alternative to Google Maps for a 50cc scooter?
Urban Rider is built for two-wheelers rather than cars. You pick your vehicle and speed class, such as 45 km/h, 50cc or 125cc, and it keeps you on roads that class may use, excluding highways and major trunk roads by default for scooters and mopeds, with arrival times based on real two-wheel speeds. It is free and native on both iOS and Android.