Departure-Time Routing API
Departure-time routing with hourly speed profiles by road class and urban density
How it works
Set departure time
Pass depart_at as an ISO 8601 timestamp, or "now".
Plaza adjusts the route
Each road's speed is scaled by the factor for its class, the hour, and weekday or weekend. Both the path and the ETA can change.
Get a departure-time ETA
Distance, duration and geometry computed with the adjusted speeds.
See it in action
An example request and its response, drawn on the map.
Who uses this
Teams building with Departure-Time Routing API.
Transit planning
Predict commute times for different departure windows.
Logistics
Compare ETAs across departure windows and avoid typical peak hours.
Ride-hailing
Fare estimates that reflect the usual rush-hour slowdown.
Start building
curl -X POST "https://plaza.fyi/api/v1/route" \
-H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"depart_at": "now",
"destination": {
"coordinates": [
-73.9855,
40.758
],
"type": "Point"
},
"origin": {
"coordinates": [
-74.006,
40.7128
],
"type": "Point"
},
"traffic_model": "best_guess"
}'
View endpoints
| Method | Path | Description |
|---|---|---|
| POST | /api/v1/route | Directions with depart_at or traffic_model parameters |
How it compares
Common questions
Is traffic routing a paid add-on?
No. Google charges $10/1K for traffic-aware directions and $5/1K without. On Plaza, depart_at and traffic_model work on any route request at the normal premium rate.
What traffic models does Plaza support?
Three, set with traffic_model once you pass depart_at. best_guess (the default) uses the profile speed for the local wall-clock hour of depart_at. pessimistic caps every road at 70% of free-flow speed or lower. optimistic ignores slowdowns and routes at free-flow speed.
How current is the traffic data?
There is no live or measured traffic data yet. Speeds come from a fixed table of hourly slowdown factors for each road class (motorway, primary, residential and so on), with separate weekday and weekend curves shaped like a typical rush hour. The curves are modelled, not measured. What OpenStreetMap decides is how much of the slowdown a road gets: roads in a dense street network get all of it, suburban roads 60% and rural roads a quarter. Traffic lights also hold you longer at rush hour and less at night.
Does traffic affect isochrones and distance matrices too?
Yes. Send depart_at (and traffic_model if you want) to /isochrone or /matrix and car, truck, motorcycle and scooter times follow the same hourly profile routes use. Conditional road limits apply at that hour too. Leave depart_at out and you get free-flow speeds.