The entire point of the article, which is that lockouts have nothing to do with customer demand, and are instead a way to skirt NYC's fair pay regulations, specifically. Per Lyft:

>The pay formula leads to the lockouts solution, said Lyft spokesperson CJ Macklin. “Which means drivers continue to see limits on when they can earn, riders are still waiting longer to get to where they need to go, and Lyft can’t serve New Yorkers in the way they are expecting,” he said. (By Lyft’s calculation, its customers have been waiting about two minutes longer per trip.)

>“This poor experience is why we don’t deploy lockouts anywhere else except in this unique situation, and it’s why we need a long-term fix,” he added.