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A community kitchen in Rotherhithe has provided a large number of prepared dishes each week for two years to pensioners and needy locals in southeast London. Yet, their operations 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 via smartphone. The company sent shockwaves across London when it said it would cease its UK business from 1 January.

This means many volunteers will be unable to pick up supplies from the Felix Project, which gathers excess produce from supermarkets, cafes and restaurants. Other options are less convenient, more expensive, or lack the same convenient access.

“It’s going to be affected massively,” said Vimal Pandya, the project's founder. “Personally me and my team are concerned by the logistical challenge we will face. Many groups 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 Urban Car-Sharing

The community kitchen’s drivers are among over 500,000 people in London registered as car club members, now potentially left without easy use to vehicles, without the hassle 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 staff, is a big blow to the vision that car sharing in cities could cut the need for private vehicle ownership. However, some analysts also suggested that Zipcar’s departure need not spell the end for the idea in Britain.

The Promise of Car Sharing

Car sharing is valued by city planners and green advocates as a way of reducing the ills linked to vehicle ownership. Typically, vehicles sit as two-tonne dead weights on the side of the road for the vast majority of the time, occupying parking. They also involve large carbon emissions to produce, and people without a vehicle tend to walk, cycle and take public transport more. That benefits cities – reducing congestion and pollution – and improves people’s health through more exercise.

Understanding the Decline

The company started in 2000 before its acquisition by the US car rental group Avis Budget in 2013. Zipcar’s UK income barely registered compared with its owner's total earnings, and a deficit 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 streamline operations, improve returns”.

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

• Patchwork Policies: Across 33 boroughs, car-club operators face a mosaic of varying processes and prices that made it harder.
• Congestion Charge: The closure comes as electric cars becoming liable for London’s congestion charge, adding extra expenses.
• Unequal Parking Fees: Residents in some boroughs pay as little as £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,” argued Robert Schopen of Co Wheels. “We remove vehicles. We’re putting less polluting cars in their place.”

Lessons from Abroad

Nations in Europe offer models for London to follow. Germany enacted national shared mobility laws in 2017, providing a nationwide framework for parking, support and exemptions. 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 expanding,” commented Bharath Devanathan of Invers.

Devanathan said authorities should start to view vehicle clubs 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.”

What Comes Next?

Other players can be split into two camps:

1. Fleet Operators: Which own or lease their own cars. Examples 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.

Turo, 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.

However, it could take a while for other players to build momentum. For now, more people may feel forced to buy cars, and others 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 prospects of shared mobility in the UK.