My bike on a hook on a train in a tunnel under a zoo

My bike on a hook on a train in a tunnel under a zoo
Originally uploaded by Major Clanger.

Some folks at work thought I was being strange when I said that in I need to get a hook for my bike on the train. Surely I meant "rack" like on a bus?

No, it's a hook. MAX trains essentially have have three kinds of carriages: two kinds of low-floor carriages and one kind of high-floor carriage.

Each MAX train consists of just two carriages (they are short because Portland city blocks are so short), and one carriage is guaranteed to be a low-floor carriage (only the low floor carriage are suitable for folks with disabilities). But... only the low floor carriages have hooks (you can stand on the high-floor ones). Each low floor carriages has 4 hooks, so a train has 4 or 8 good places to hang a bike and relax.

Each morning, as I see the train, I need to work out which one (or both) of the carriages is the low-floor one (the front of the train is a different shape) then quickly move along the platform to get a hook. Some mornings there are no hooks and I have to stand for an hoour, holding the bike. No fun.