Fire departments aren't something open to a public which doesn't give a damn about it being shared property, (fire department equipment is typically only handle

Fire departments aren't something open to a public which doesn't give a damn about it being shared property, (fire department equipment is typically only handled by the trained people employed by the department) nor do they typically involve much infrastructure that incurs constant wear and tear. The solution to the MTA being exceedingly wasteful and unwilling to enforce rules isn't to just make it easier for them to be even worse. If these people already feel such little civic responsibility for city infrastructure as to be skipping the fare and effectively taking advantage of everyone else, it's going to get much worse if it appears to them that they aren't even being asked to pay. Deciding to just make it 'free' would be the same as deciding just not to measure things that reveal inconvenient facts and celebrating that as having solved the problem.