This week I thought I would continue with my latest monthly theme of writing a “kitchen sink” column – that is, filled with small bits of information, observations, and reflections. In looking over various news sources, however, I found one article about bus drivers that caught my attention, and somehow led me to think about this question: what is a “social contract?” And as a result, today’s column is all about buses. 

Here is the Washington Post headline in August that got me started: “Fearing Violence, Some Metro Bus Drivers Are Bucking Orders to Announce Fare.” A recent policy change by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) required bus drivers to verbally quote the $2.25 fare. Several bus drivers were concerned that this policy would increase the risk that bus operators would be harassed or assaulted, citing prior incidents. WMATA General Manager Randy Clarke stated that bus operators are not supposed to enforce the fare, but that they are “doing fare awareness.” This attitude did not sit well with one bus operator, who noted that an automated recording already tells passengers the fare at every stop. 

But fare evasion is a real problem in search of a solution. It is certainly a threat to Metro’s finances, as data shows that fare evasion rates were at 63% in June (the rate is combined for the three jurisdictions). In a later article, in the news outlet The MoCoShow, Clarke said this about fare evasion: “It’s a social contract, we can’t police our way out of it.” 

This reference to a “social contract” framed the issue for me, and made me think of larger, similar conundrums – that is, there are many societal problems where we just cannot “police our way out of it.” Of course, my first inclination was to research the meaning of a social contract. A dictionary might tell you that a social contract is “an actual or an implicit agreement among the people of a society, or between the citizens and their government, that defines and limits the rights and duties of each.” The general concept goes back centuries, but I will spare you any recitations from Hobbes, or Locke, or Rousseau, and give you a combined summary: Individuals give up certain absolute freedoms and agree to follow laws. In return, the governing authority provides safety, stability, and order. 

Of course, I like to simplify things, and to try to put them in context. So here is my short definition of a social contract: “The expectation that you will follow the rules even when enforcement is very unlikely.” This would seem to apply to the bus fare issue, as few citations are issued. Let me ask a rhetorical question for you readers to ponder: what might be some other examples of a “social contract” in our daily lives? I have one quick answer, based on my own experiences of walking various trails in Arlington County parks, where the signs clearly state that dogs are to be kept on a leash … and where I often encounter dogs off leash. Going forward, I might call this “leash evasion,” where dog owners know that the risk of any legal consequence is minimal. 

Getting back to the conundrum for WMATA bus operators – whether to announce the fare or not – a recent agreement with their union exempts them from verbally quoting fares unless they have a fully enclosed workstation. I guess this sounds like a reasonable compromise, but it does feel a bit sad to have to provide safety enclosures for bus drivers. Is the concept of a social contract disappearing? 

In this column, I also wanted to provide context about the bus systems that serve Arlington, such as the difference between the WMATA bus system and Arlington’s internal bus system known as ART. But that will have to wait for a later column. In the meantime, I am interested in your thoughts on my social contract question – what might be some other examples? If you want to share some thoughts on that one, or anything else, feel free to send me an email at historybillfogs@gmail.com.