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The volunteer food project in Rotherhithe has been delivering hundreds of cooked meals each week for the past two years to pensioners and needy locals in south London. However, the group's plans have been thrown into disarray by the news that they will lose use of New Year’s Day.

This organization depended on Zipcar, the app-based vehicle rental service that customers to access its fleet of vehicles from the street. It sent shockwaves across London when it said it would cease its UK business from 1 January.

This means many volunteers will be unable to collect food from a major food charity, that collects excess produce from grocery stores, cafes and restaurants. Other options are less convenient, more expensive, or do not offer the same convenient access.

“The impact will be massively,” said 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, everyone is concerned and thinking: ‘How will we continue?’”

A Significant Setback for City Vehicle Clubs

The community kitchen’s drivers are part of more than half a million people in London registered as car club members, who could be left without convenient access to vehicles, without the hassle and cost of ownership. The vast majority of those people were likely with Zipcar, which had a near-monopoly position in the city.

The planned closure, pending 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 have noted that Zipcar’s departure need not mean the demise for the concept in Britain.

The Potential of Car Sharing

Shared vehicle use is valued by many urbanists and green advocates as a way of reducing the ills associated with vehicle ownership. Typically, vehicles sit idle on the side of the road for 95% of the time, occupying parking. They also involve large carbon emissions to produce, and people without a vehicle tend to use active travel and take public transport more. That helps urban areas – reducing congestion and pollution – and boosts 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 income barely registered compared with its owner'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 “broader transformation across our global operations, where we are taking targeted actions to streamline operations, enhance profitability”.

Its latest financial reports said revenues had declined as drivers took less frequent, 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 Challenges

However, several experts noted that London has particular issues that made it difficult for the company and its rivals to succeed.

• Inconsistent Rules: With numerous local councils, car-club operators face a mosaic of varying processes and costs that complicate operations.
• Congestion Charge: 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 year’s electric car parking permit. A similar shared vehicle would pay over £1,100 annually, creating a significant barrier.

“Our fees should be one-twentieth of a resident’s permit,” argued Robert Schopen of Co Wheels. “We’re taking cars off the street. We’re putting less polluting cars in their place.”

Lessons from Abroad

Nations in Europe offer examples for London to follow. Germany enacted national car-sharing legislation in 2017, providing a unified system for parking, support and waivers. 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.

“The evidence shows is that shared mobility around the world, particularly on the continent, is growing,” 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 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 models:

1. Company-Owned Fleets: Which maintain their own cars. Examples 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.

Turo, a US-headquartered P2P service, is assessing the UK gap. Rory Brimmer, its UK managing director, 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 some time for other players to build momentum. In the meantime, more people may feel forced to buy cars, and many across London will be without a convenient option.

For the volunteers in Rotherhithe, the coming weeks will be a scramble to find a way. The logistical challenge caused by Zipcar’s exit underscores the broader impact of its departure on community groups and the future of car-sharing in the UK.