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A community kitchen in Rotherhithe has distributed hundreds of prepared dishes weekly for two years to pensioners and vulnerable locals in south London. However, the group's plans face major disruption by the announcement that they will lose cars and vans on New Year’s Day.

The group 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 cannot pick up supplies from the Felix Project, which gathers surplus food from supermarkets, cafes and restaurants. Other options are further away, costlier, or do not offer the same convenient access.

“It’s going to be affected 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.”

“Knowing the reality, they are all worried and thinking: ‘How will we continue?’”

A Major Blow for City Vehicle Clubs

These volunteers are part of 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. Most of those people were probably with Zipcar, which had a near-monopoly position in the city.

The planned closure, subject to consultation with employees, is a big blow to the vision that vehicle clubs in cities could cut the need for private vehicle ownership. However, some experts have noted that Zipcar’s departure need not spell the end for the concept in Britain.

The Potential of Car Sharing

Shared vehicle use is prized by city planners and environmentalists as a way of mitigating the problems linked to vehicle ownership. Most cars sit idle on the street for 95% of the time, using up space. They also require large carbon emissions to produce, and people without a vehicle tend to use active travel and take public transport more. That benefits cities – reducing congestion and pollution – and boosts people’s health through more exercise.

Understanding the Decline

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

Avis Budget has said the closure is part of a “broader transformation across our global operations, where we are taking deliberate steps to simplify processes, improve returns”.

Zipcar’s most recent accounts said revenues had fallen as drivers took fewer and shorter trips. “This trend reflect the continuing effect of the economic squeeze, which continues to suppress demand for discretionary spending,” it said.

The Capital's Specific Hurdles

Yet, several experts noted that London has specific problems that made it much harder for the company and its rivals to succeed.

• Patchwork Policies: Across 33 boroughs, car-club operators face a patchwork of different procedures and costs that made it harder.
• Congestion Charge: The closure coincides with electric cars becoming liable for London’s congestion charge, adding unavoidable costs.
• Unequal Parking Fees: 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.

“Our fees should be one-twentieth of a resident’s permit,” said Robert Schopen of Co Wheels. “We remove vehicles. We introduce cleaner models in their place.”

A European Example

Other European countries offer models for London to follow. Germany enacted national car-sharing legislation in 2017, providing a nationwide framework for parking, support 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.

“The evidence shows is that shared mobility around the world, particularly on the continent, is expanding,” said Bharath Devanathan of Invers.

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

What Comes Next?

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

1. Company-Owned Fleets: Which own or lease 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 hire 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 already weighing up the UK gap. Rory Brimmer, its UK managing director, 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.

Yet, it could take a while for other players to build momentum. For now, more people may choose to buy cars, and others across London will be left without access.

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