Between fare hikes and protests, the financial woes of the MBTA have been well documented and closely monitored by both the media and the people of Boston. Citizens have refused to embrace the idea of fare hikes as a means to keep services as operable as they currently are, while also decrying the idea of service cuts. It’s tough to blame them. But the MBTA, obviously, is in a rather precarious position itself. So what can be done?

A fascinating long read from Commonwealth Magazine reports how the state might tag Wall Street investors into the ring to fight the debt, as well as to spur development on the roads:

Last March, Patrick placed a marker in a transportation bond bill that would have allowed him to establish a state infrastructure bank. The state-controlled bank would pour private funds into public infrastructure projects in two ways. The bank would receive deposits from the state and private investors, and it would make loans to commercial builders working on infrastructure projects across the state; the bank’s investors would make money by collecting interest on the bank’s loans. The infrastructure bank proposal was little noticed, since the Legislature quickly removed it from Patrick’s bond package. Nevertheless, Davey traveled to New York this summer to sell the proposed bank to deep-pocketed investors. The administration is now laying plans to roll out its infrastructure bank proposal on Beacon Hill early in next year’s new legislative session.

That would be Governor Deval Patrick and MassDOT Secretary Richard Davey, as they argue the state can’t afford not to tap into Wall Street. It’s definitely worth checking out the whole article.

It adds:

The infrastructure bank is a forward-looking tool. It would fund new projects, but it wouldn’t do anything to relieve MassDOT’s current cash crunch.

So is the whole thing jumping to step 2 before addressing step 1? It’s just not possible to please everyone with a given plan, but with this, they have to be absolutely certain they will be able to refill the deep pockets of Wall Street should they decide to dip into them. But given its current state, we should be open to ideas.