A system may include two or more agents, one of which may be identified as a default agent. If none of the agents arbitrate for the bus, the default agent may be given a default grant of the bus. If the default agent has information to transfer on the bus, the default agent may take the default grant and my transfer the information without first arbitrating for the bus and winning the arbitration. In one embodiment, the default agent may arbitrate for the bus when it has information to transfer and no default grant is received. The default agent may be an equal participant in arbitration. A fair arbitration scheme may thus be implemented in arbitrations in which there is contention for the bus.