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The community kitchen in Rotherhithe has distributed hundreds of prepared dishes weekly for two years to elderly residents and needy locals in southeast London. Yet, their operations have been thrown into disarray by the announcement that they will lose cars and vans on New Year’s Day.

This organization had relied on Zipcar, the car-sharing company that allowed its fleet of vehicles from the street. The company sent shockwaves across London when it declared it would cease its UK business from 1 January.

It will mean many volunteers will be unable to pick up supplies from the Felix Project, which gathers excess produce from supermarkets, cafes and restaurants. Obvious alternatives are further away, costlier, or do not offer the same flexible hours.

“The impact will be massively,” stated Vimal Pandya, the community kitchen’s founder. “My team and I are worried about the logistical challenge we will face. A lot of people like ours will face difficulties.”

“Faced with this reality, everyone is concerned and thinking: ‘How are we going to carry on?”

A Major Blow for City Vehicle Clubs

These volunteers are among more than half a million people in London registered as car club members, who could be left without easy use to vehicles, without the hassle and cost of ownership. The vast majority of those members were likely with Zipcar, which had a near-monopoly position in the city.

The planned closure, subject to consultation with employees, is a serious setback to the vision that car sharing in cities could reduce the need for private vehicle ownership. Yet, some experts also suggested that Zipcar’s departure need not spell the end for the idea in Britain.

The Potential of Shared Mobility

Car sharing is valued by many urbanists and green advocates as a way of mitigating the problems linked to vehicle ownership. Most cars sit as two-tonne dead weights on the street for the vast majority of the time, occupying parking. They also require large carbon emissions to produce, and people without a vehicle tend to walk, cycle and take transit more. That benefits cities – easing congestion and pollution – and improves people’s health through increased activity.

Understanding the Decline

Zipcar was founded in 2000 before its acquisition by the US car rental group Avis Budget in 2013. Zipcar’s UK revenues were minimal compared with its parent company's overall annual revenue, and a deficit that grew to £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 said revenues had fallen as drivers took fewer and shorter trips. “This trend reflect the ongoing impact of the cost-of-living crisis, which is dampening demand for discretionary spending,” it said.

London's Unique Hurdles

Yet, industry observers noted that London has particular issues that made it much harder for the company and its rivals 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 unavoidable costs.
• Parking Permit Disparity: Residents in some boroughs pay just £63 for a year’s electric car parking permit. A floating car club would pay over £1,100 annually, creating a major disincentive.

“We should literally be charged one-twentieth of a resident’s permit,” said 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 shared mobility laws in 2017, providing a unified system 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 trails at 0.7.

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

He suggested authorities should start to treat car sharing as a form of public transport, and link it with train and bus stations. He added that one unnamed client 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 camps:

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 – a kind of Airbnb for cars. Players include 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 “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 some time for other players to build momentum. For now, more people may choose to buy cars, and others across London will be without a convenient option.

For the volunteers in Rotherhithe, the coming weeks will be a rush to find a way. The logistical challenge caused by Zipcar’s exit highlights the wider implications of its departure on vital services and the prospects of shared mobility in the UK.