Mapquest API Route Matrix time and day options do nothing - json

Question

I am writing a simple application in Java to get time and drive distance data from the MapQuest API using their Route Matrix. I can get regular data just fine, but it appears that the date and time parameters (explained here) do not change anything.
My two request bodies are:
{"locations": ["55455","55113"],"options": {"allToAll": true,
"dateType": 0,"date": "12/17/2016","timeType": 2,"localTime": "12:00"}}
and
{"locations": ["55455","55113"],"options": {"allToAll": true,
"dateType": 0,"date": "12/13/2016","timeType": 2,"localTime": "16:30"}}
I get the same response for both requests:
{
"allToAll": true,
"time": [
[
0,
573
],
[
562,
0
]
],
"distance": [
[
0,
7.485
],
[
6.764,
0
]
],
"locations": [
{
"latLng": {
"lng": -93.234543,
"lat": 44.975052
},
"adminArea4": "Hennepin County",
"adminArea5Type": "City",
"adminArea4Type": "County",
"adminArea5": "Minneapolis",
"street": "",
"adminArea1": "US",
"adminArea3": "MN",
"type": "s",
"displayLatLng": {
"lng": -93.234543,
"lat": 44.975052
},
"linkId": 286290952,
"postalCode": "55455",
"dragPoint": false,
"sideOfStreet": "N",
"adminArea1Type": "Country",
"geocodeQuality": "ZIP",
"geocodeQualityCode": "Z1XAA",
"adminArea3Type": "State"
},
{
"latLng": {
"lng": -93.15676,
"lat": 45.012234
},
"adminArea4": "Ramsey County",
"adminArea5Type": "City",
"adminArea4Type": "County",
"adminArea5": "St Paul",
"street": "",
"adminArea1": "US",
"adminArea3": "MN",
"type": "s",
"displayLatLng": {
"lng": -93.15676,
"lat": 45.012234
},
"linkId": 286290770,
"postalCode": "55113",
"dragPoint": false,
"sideOfStreet": "N",
"adminArea1Type": "Country",
"geocodeQuality": "ZIP",
"geocodeQualityCode": "Z1XAA",
"adminArea3Type": "State"
}
],
"manyToOne": false,
"info": {
"copyright": {
"text": "© 2016 MapQuest, Inc.",
"imageUrl": "http://api.mqcdn.com/res/mqlogo.gif",
"imageAltText": "© 2016 MapQuest, Inc."
},
"statuscode": 0,
"messages": []
}
}
So for some reason, Saturday at noon has the same travel times as Tuesday at 16:30. Is there something wrong with my request, or does MapQuest not actually have this capability for the Route Matrix? The API documentation leads me to believe that the date/time options should work on any package in the Directions API, so could someone clear this up? Thanks in advance.
EDIT: I've made sure to try a route that I know for sure has HOV lanes that are restricted during the rush hour and not on the Saturday. I also tried enabling MapQuest's useTraffic parameter. Neither of these had any effect on the data. MapQuest states that useTraffic depends on availability of information, so I think I can only assume that it can't find information (which is strange, since I know that there is tons of data for this area). If anyone has any other ideas or explanations I'd be happy to hear.

Answer 1

MapQuest's Transit & Date/Time Routing "gives the user the ability to specify the time and date of a route, thus compensating for lanes that are HOV at specific times, timed-turned restrictions, and seasonal or specific day of the week closures." It does not account for specific time and date historic traffic. It works great for timed traffic restrictions though.