Lets take for example a street that goes from 1000 cars a day to 46,000 because it saves people 2 minutes. That means that every day 90,000 minutes are saved every day. That means that on arrogate the people of your city have 1000 hours a day to play with their kids, hang out with their family, make dinner and relax. Since time is money that could also convert to $15,000/day of lost productivity @$15 an hour. So in my opinion Waze is a public good and a nuisance to those well off folks that feel entitled to inconvenience others for personal benefit.

You argue that government urban planners know better and traffic flow should follow the patterns that they had envisioned. I think traffic should flow like water or current down the path of least resistance for optimal efficiency. Waze acts as an equalizer it doesn't care if you are rich or poor, if your neighborhood is politically influential or not. An urban planner would never dare run a major thoroughfare though Beverly hills due the political blowback, or even a bus line connecting two poor parts of town. From a fairness standpoint if that's the most efficient route that's exactly where it should go and you should not have the right to exclude people from traveling through your hood or street.