Metro Light Rail trains offer four bike storage spaces per car, but it's often hard to tell which spaces are available. As a train pulls into the station, a bicyclist has to look into the windows and see how many bikes are hanging in which location before making a split-decision about where to board a train. If the train car is wrapped with advertising, bicyclists may not be able to see inside at all, resulting in their boarding the train with no visibility into bike rack availability.

The result is needless crowding and awkwardness as bicyclists who are willing and able to hang their rides end up in the wrong part of the train. In some cases, bicyclists may inadvertently board a train car in which all spaces in the racks are taken even though several spaces are available in another car. In other situations, space may be available only on the opposite side of the bike compartment, necessitating a clumsy attempt to move the bicycle past seated passengers to reach the available space.

A potential solution is to have indicators on the exterior of each rail car showing which bike rack positions are occupied and which are vacant. In each bike rack, there could be sensor that is triggered by the pressure of the bike's rear tire on the lower portion of the rack. That sensor would cause a small light to illuminate on the outside of the train near the bicycle symbol. There would be one light for each spot in the rack, showing the extent of rack space availability in each car of the train.