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Because the vast majority of drivers don't pay the bill when they get it in the mail.
Made up facts are made up.
Suffice it to say that I'm pretty close to the situation, so you can believe what I said or not. Makes no difference to me.
As I've said on other threads, the majority of people on TexAgs are not "normal" violators. I would assume that most on here are college educated and honest people that pay bills that they owe. If that is the case, you should also know by now that you are in the minority with regards to being responsible. So a bunch of posters claiming that they would pay their toll-by-mail bill doesn't surprise me. But it also wouldn't move the needle compared to the vast majority of people who would just toss it in the trash.
At the end of the day, the toll road must answer to the county commissioners and the bond holders. Part of that responsibility includes catching/prosecuting violators. If your commute takes you through the Sam North Toll Plaza (the one between 249 and I-45), you've seen the army of constables parked along the shoulders the last few months. They are waiting for serial violators to come through the plaza. Depending on how much they owe, they may be given a citation and escorted off the toll road or they may actually be arrested and their car impounded.
If the HCTRA system hadn't come into existence until 15 years ago, it's highly likely that pay-by-mail would be accepted. However, since HCTRA was in existence before pay-by-mail was an option, the toll/violation policies that HCTRA operates under were already in place. Changing those policies isn't exactly a small undertaking and the power-that-be have determined that it's not in HCTRA's/Harris County's/bond holders' best interest to make those changes.