The bus can be scary. We get it. So does Tacoma's Downtown On The Go, a collaborative group championing public transportation options and integrated land use systems in Tacoma's downtown. How? Through a multitude of cool, outside-the-box events - that's how. Starting Tuesday, Downtown On The Go invites you to ride the bus with them, as they familiarize newbies, explain how to read a bus schedule and hand out free ORCA cards loaded with $12 E-purse. (If you join them you'll know what that means.) Four days of rides are currently scheduled, with Tuesday's convening at the Tacoma Community College Park & Ride at 7 a.m. and traveling (with smiling faces from Downtown On The Go on board) to the transit center at 10^th and Commerce downtown. Find info on future rides at downtownonthego.com.

[TCC Park & Ride, 7 a.m., 6501 S. 19th St., Tacoma, 253.566.5000]