TIGER tags are not meant to be used by consumers, while missing building footprints and inaccurate lane tags are outright deficiencies in the data. refs on the other hand are widely used and are not deficiencies.

I actually would support dropping refs from ways where there is a relation, but I would want to see this voted on by the community first. Prominent data consumers should also have a chance to switch over first. Either way, the proposal should be for switching from the current situation, which is tagging both on the way and the relation.

For each edit I have done so far, I considered each section and consulted the way history to make sure that the ref previously existed and was only removed because there was a route relation.