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A volunteer food project in Rotherhithe has been delivering a large number of prepared dishes each week for the past two years to elderly residents and vulnerable locals in southeast London. Yet, the group's plans face major disruption by the announcement that they will lose use of New Year’s Day.

The group depended on Zipcar, the app-based vehicle rental service that customers to access its cars from the street. The company caused shock across London when it said it would cease its UK operations from 1 January.

This means many volunteers will be unable to collect food from the Felix Project, that collects excess produce from supermarkets, cafes and restaurants. Obvious alternatives are further away, costlier, or lack the same convenient access.

“The impact will be massively,” stated Vimal Pandya, the community kitchen’s founder. “My team and I are concerned by the operational hurdle we will face. Many groups like ours will face difficulties.”

“Faced with this reality, they are all worried and thinking: ‘How will we continue?’”

A Significant Setback for Urban Car-Sharing

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 likely with Zipcar, which held a dominant position in the city.

This shutdown, subject to consultation with employees, is a serious setback to hopes that car sharing in urban areas could reduce the need for owning a car. Yet, some experts have noted that Zipcar’s departure need not spell the end for the idea in Britain.

The Potential of Shared Mobility

Shared vehicle use 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 95% of the time, occupying parking. They also involve large CO2 output to produce, and people who do not own cars tend to walk, cycle and take transit more. That benefits cities – easing congestion and pollution – and boosts public health through more exercise.

Understanding the Decline

The company started in 2000 before its acquisition by the American rental giant Avis Budget in 2013. Zipcar’s UK income barely registered compared with its parent company's overall annual revenue, 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 international business, where we are taking deliberate steps to simplify processes, enhance profitability”.

Zipcar’s most recent accounts noted revenues had declined as drivers took less frequent, shorter trips. “These changes reflect the ongoing impact of the cost-of-living crisis, which is dampening demand for discretionary spending,” it said.

London's Unique Hurdles

However, industry observers noted that London has specific problems that made it difficult for the sector to succeed.

• Inconsistent Rules: Across 33 boroughs, car-club operators face a mosaic of different procedures and prices that made it harder.
• New Costs: The closure comes as electric cars start paying London’s congestion charge, adding extra expenses.
• 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 significant barrier.

“Our fees should be one-twentieth of a private parking cost,” said Robert Schopen of Co Wheels. “We remove vehicles. We introduce cleaner models in their place.”

Lessons from Abroad

Other European countries offer examples for London to follow. Germany introduced national shared mobility laws in 2017, providing a unified system for parking, subsidies and waivers. 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,” 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 one unnamed client was looking at entering the London market: “There will be fill this gap.”

The Future Landscape

The company’s competitors can roughly be divided into two camps:

1. Fleet Operators: 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 rent 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 peer-to-peer platform, is assessing the UK gap. Rory Brimmer, its UK head, said there was a “significant chance” 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 the volunteers in Rotherhithe, the coming weeks will be a scramble to find a way. The delivery problem caused by Zipcar’s exit underscores the broader impact of its departure on community groups and the future of car-sharing in the UK.