Light rail has been an astounding success with ridership well in excess of expectations. One of the factors in its success has been its integration with other modes of transport, including buses and bicycles. One mode that has been left out, however, is taxis.

There are situations in which having taxis waiting at stations, particularly those near the end of the line, would provide "last mile" coverage and encourage even more rail use. Consider these scenarios:

-- Walking a mile to catch a train and returning later with several bags of groceries that are too heavy to carry all the way back home.
-- Coming home after bus service has ceased at 10 PM and needing a ride the rest of the way.
-- Returning to a park-and-ride after a few drinks and feeling unsafe in getting behind the wheel.
-- Arriving at Sky Harbor and catching light rail from there to a station on the way to a final destination.

In all these scenarios, having cabs waiting at a few designated rail stations could be helpful. Fortunately, the existing kiss-and-ride spots at several stations offer a venue for this. Those designated parking spaces are useful for pickups and dropoffs, but they're almost never used at full capacity. A third of them could be reallocated to use as taxi stands.

If there's a desire to prototype this arrangement at one station, Central / Camelback would be ideal. There, the kiss-and-ride spots are highly visible in a cul-de-sac and do not require passengers to cross the street for access. Allow taxi companies to bid for the privilege of stationing two cabs there at times of peak demand. If the program is successful, consider an expansion to other stations near the end of the line.