[Tagging] Status of oneway=cw oneway=ccw

[s8evq]

On Fri, 03 May 2019 12:56:34 +0200, osm at hjart.dk wrote:
> That's assuming the ways are ordered at all. I've cleaned up hundreds of 
> routes (most created by Potlatch users though) and my advice is: do not 
> rely on routes being ordered.

But what's the alternative then?

- Using CW CCW? How would you indicate the direction of this route (https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/9535700), not using the order of the individual ways? 

- Using designated_direction=forward|backward|both.   But forward relative to what?

I understand that it's dangerous to rely on the order of ways in a relation. But difficulty of tagging/editing is only a minor argument, as long as there's no better alternative way of tagging.