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The volunteer food project in Rotherhithe has been delivering hundreds of cooked meals weekly for two years to pensioners and needy locals in south London. Yet, their operations face major disruption by the announcement that they will lose access to New Year’s Day.

This organization had relied on Zipcar, the car-sharing company that allowed its fleet of vehicles via smartphone. The company caused shock across London when it said it would shut down its UK operations from 1 January.

This means many volunteers cannot pick up supplies from the Felix Project, that collects excess produce from grocery stores, cafes and restaurants. Obvious alternatives are further away, costlier, or do not offer the same convenient access.

“The impact will be massively,” said Vimal Pandya, the community kitchen’s founder. “Personally me and my team are concerned by the operational hurdle we will face. A lot of people like ours are going to struggle.”

“Knowing the reality, they are all worried and thinking: ‘How are we going to carry on?”

A Major Blow for City Vehicle Clubs

The community kitchen’s drivers are part of over 500,000 people in London who were car club members, who could be left without easy use to vehicles, avoiding the burden and cost of ownership. The vast majority of those members were probably with Zipcar, which held a dominant position in the city.

This shutdown, subject to consultation with employees, is a big blow to the vision that car sharing in urban areas could cut the need for private vehicle ownership. Yet, some analysts also suggested that Zipcar’s departure need not mean the demise for the idea in Britain.

The Potential of Shared Mobility

Car sharing is prized by many urbanists and green advocates as a way of mitigating the problems linked to vehicle ownership. Most cars sit idle on the side of the road for 95% of the time, using up space. They also require large carbon emissions to produce, and people who do not own cars tend to walk, cycle and take transit 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 its acquisition by the American rental giant Avis Budget in 2013. Zipcar’s UK revenues barely registered compared with its parent company's total earnings, and a loss that reached £11.7m in 2024 gave no reason to continue.

Avis Budget has said the closure is part of a “wider restructuring across our international business, where we are taking deliberate steps to simplify processes, improve returns”.

Its latest financial reports said revenues had declined as drivers took fewer and shorter trips. “This trend reflect the ongoing impact of the cost-of-living crisis, which continues to suppress demand for non-essential services,” it said.

London's Unique Hurdles

However, industry observers noted that London has particular issues that made it much harder for the company and its rivals to succeed.

• Patchwork Policies: With numerous local councils, car-club operators face a patchwork of varying processes and costs that made it harder.
• New Costs: The closure coincides with electric cars becoming liable for London’s congestion charge, adding extra expenses.
• Parking Permit Disparity: Residents in some boroughs pay as little as £63 for a annual electric car parking permit. A similar shared vehicle would pay over £1,100 per year, creating a significant barrier.

“We should literally be charged one-twentieth of a resident’s permit,” said Robert Schopen of Co Wheels. “We’re taking cars off the street. We introduce cleaner models in their place.”

A European Example

Nations in Europe offer examples for London to follow. Germany introduced national car-sharing legislation in 2017, providing a nationwide framework for parking, subsidies and exemptions. Now, the country has several 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 shared mobility around the world, particularly on the continent, is growing,” commented Bharath Devanathan of Invers.

Devanathan said authorities should start to view vehicle clubs as a form of public transport, and link it with train and bus stations. He added that a potential operator was looking at entering the London market: “Operators will fill this gap.”

The Future Landscape

Other players can roughly be divided into two camps:

1. Company-Owned Fleets: Which maintain their own cars. This includes Denmark’s GreenMobility, France’s Free2Move, and Germany’s Miles Mobility.
2. Person-to-Person Rentals: Which allow users to rent out their own vehicles via an app – a kind of Airbnb for cars. Examples Britain’s Hiyacar and the US’s Getaround and Turo.

One company, a US-headquartered peer-to-peer platform, is assessing the UK gap. Rory Brimmer, its UK head, said there was a “big opportunity” to win more users. “There is a void that is going to need to be filled, because London still needs to move,” Brimmer said.

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

For Rotherhithe community kitchen, the next month will be a scramble to find a way. The logistical challenge caused by Zipcar’s exit underscores the wider implications of its departure on community groups and the future of car-sharing in the UK.