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A community kitchen in Rotherhithe has provided a large number of cooked meals weekly for the past two years to elderly residents and vulnerable locals in south London. Yet, their operations have been thrown into disarray by the news that they will not have cars and vans on New Year’s Day.

This organization had relied on Zipcar, the car-sharing company that allowed its fleet of vehicles via smartphone. It caused shock across London when it declared it would cease its UK business from 1 January.

It will mean many volunteers cannot pick up supplies from the Felix Project, that collects surplus food from supermarkets, cafes and restaurants. Obvious alternatives are less convenient, more expensive, or do not offer the same convenient access.

“The impact will be massively,” said Vimal Pandya, the project's founder. “Personally me and my team are worried about the logistical challenge we will face. A lot of people like ours are going to struggle.”

“Faced with this reality, everyone is concerned and thinking: ‘How will we continue?’”

A Major Blow for Urban Car-Sharing

The community kitchen’s drivers are part of over 500,000 people in London registered as car club members, now potentially left without easy use to vehicles, avoiding the burden and cost of ownership. Most of those people were likely with Zipcar, which had a near-monopoly position in the city.

This shutdown, subject to consultation with staff, is a big blow to the vision that vehicle clubs in cities could reduce the need for owning a car. However, some experts also suggested that Zipcar’s departure need not mean the demise for the concept in Britain.

The Promise of Shared Mobility

Car sharing is valued by many urbanists and environmentalists as a way of mitigating the ills associated with vehicle ownership. Most cars sit as two-tonne dead weights on the side of the road for 95% of the time, using up space. They also require large CO2 output to produce, and people who do not own cars tend to walk, cycle and take public transport more. That helps urban areas – easing congestion and pollution – and improves people’s health through increased activity.

Understanding the Decline

The company started in 2000 before being bought by the US car rental group Avis Budget in 2013. Zipcar’s UK revenues were minimal compared with its parent company's total earnings, and a loss that reached £11.7m in 2024 gave little incentive to continue.

The parent company stated the closure is part of a “broader transformation across our international business, where we are taking targeted actions to streamline operations, enhance profitability”.

Zipcar’s most recent accounts noted revenues had declined as drivers took fewer and shorter trips. “These changes reflect the continuing effect of the economic squeeze, which continues to suppress demand for non-essential services,” it said.

London's Unique Challenges

Yet, industry observers noted that London has particular issues that made it much harder for the sector to succeed.

• Inconsistent Rules: With numerous local councils, car-club operators face a patchwork of different procedures and costs that made it harder.
• New Costs: The closure comes as electric cars becoming liable for London’s congestion charge, adding extra expenses.
• Parking Permit Disparity: Locals in some boroughs pay as little as £63 for a annual electric car parking permit. A floating car club would pay over £1,100 per year, creating a major disincentive.

“We should literally be charged one-twentieth of a private parking cost,” argued Robert Schopen of Co Wheels. “We remove vehicles. We’re putting less polluting cars in their place.”

A European Example

Other European countries offer models for London to follow. Germany introduced national car-sharing legislation in 2017, providing a unified system for parking, subsidies and waivers. Now, the country has 5.4 shared cars per 10,000 people, while France has 2.1 and Belgium has 6.3. The UK lags behind at 0.7.

“What we see is that car sharing around the world, particularly on the continent, is growing,” commented Bharath Devanathan of Invers.

He suggested authorities should start to treat car sharing as a form of public transport, and integrate it with train and bus stations. He added that a potential operator was looking at entering the London market: “There will be fill this gap.”

The Future Landscape

The company’s competitors can be split into two models:

1. Company-Owned Fleets: Which maintain their own cars. This includes Denmark’s GreenMobility, France’s Free2Move, and Germany’s Miles Mobility.
2. Peer-to-Peer Services: Which allow users to hire out their own vehicles via an app – similar to Airbnb for cars. Players include Britain’s Hiyacar and the US’s Getaround and Turo.

Turo, a US-headquartered P2P service, is already weighing up the UK gap. Rory Brimmer, its UK managing director, said there was a “significant chance” to win more users. “A space exists that is going to need to be filled, because London still needs to move,” Brimmer said.

Yet, it could take a while for other players to establish themselves. In the meantime, more people may feel forced to buy cars, and many across London will be left without access.

For the volunteers in Rotherhithe, the next month will be a rush to find a way. The logistical challenge caused by Zipcar’s exit underscores the broader impact of its departure on community groups and the future of shared mobility in the UK.