Rate object enforces minute unit of time

[zanebclark]

John Good @FordAVLLC-jgood brought up a great point in the 2/15 meeting: The Rate object supports a dynamic rate_unit, but increment_minutes, start_minutes , and end_minutes are all still tied to a single unit of time.

[zanebclark]

We've introduced a rate_unit that was initially intended to reflect the unit of time associated with the rate, but it could dictate the unit of time used across the entire Rate:

Name	Type	Required/Optional	Description
rate	Integer	Required	The rate for this space in cents (or the smallest denomination of local currency) per rate_unit.
rate_unit	Enum	Required	The unit of time associated with the rate. One of "second", "minute", "hour", "day", "week", "month", "year".
increment_duration	Integer	Optional	If specified, this is the smallest number of rate_units a user can pay for (e.g., if increment_duration is 15 and rate_unit is minute, a user can pay for 15, 30, 45, etc. minutes).
increment_currency	Integer	Optional	If specified, the rate for this space is rounded up to the nearest increment of this amount, specified in the same units as rate.
start_duration	Integer	Optional	The number of rate_units the vehicle must have already been present in the Curb Zone before this rate starts applying (inclusive, see Range Boundaries). If not specified, this rate starts when the vehicle arrives.
end_duration	Integer	Optional	The number of rate_units after which the rate stops applying (exclusive, see Time Range). If not specified, this rate ends when the vehicle departs.

[schnuerle]

I worked in most of your suggestions here, thank you! I did leave increment_amount the same name, but added the word 'currency' in its description since currency in a field name in MDS tends to mean specifying the local currency, not the amount.

https://github.com/openmobilityfoundation/curb-data-specification/blob/release-1.0.0/curbs/README.md#rate

[FordAVLLC-jgood]

Thanks for bringing this up, @zanebclark. I was thinking that it would be good to future-proof the Curb Data Specification by allowing the use of seconds as a valid rate_unit. This would better accommodate use cases in high-demand urban curb frontages, and airports, where a lot of deliveries and drop-offs will happen.

[FordAVLLC-jgood]

Alternatively, we could change the field characteristics of increment_duration to allow for fractions of a minute (e.g. 1/10 minute = 6 seconds).

[zanebclark]

@FordAVLLC-jgood, seconds is already a valid rate_unit. Do you mean to say it would be good to future-proof by defining the remaining fields in terms of the designated rate_unit (e.g. start_duration interpreted in terms of the rate_unit)?