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The volunteer food project in Rotherhithe has provided hundreds of cooked meals weekly for the past two years to elderly residents and vulnerable locals in southeast London. However, their operations face major disruption by the news that they will not have access to New Year’s Day.

The group depended on Zipcar, the app-based vehicle rental service that allowed its fleet of vehicles from the street. It sent shockwaves through the capital when it said it would cease its UK operations from 1 January.

This means many helpers cannot pick up supplies from a major food charity, that collects excess produce from grocery stores, cafes and restaurants. Obvious alternatives are further away, costlier, or lack the same convenient access.

“It’s going to be affected massively,” said Vimal Pandya, the community kitchen’s founder. “Personally me and my team are concerned by 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 will we continue?’”

A Significant Setback for Urban Car-Sharing

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. Most of those members were likely with Zipcar, which had a near-monopoly position in the city.

The planned closure, pending consultation with employees, is a big blow to the vision that car sharing in cities could reduce the need for private vehicle ownership. Yet, some experts have noted that Zipcar’s departure need not mean the demise for the concept in Britain.

The Promise of Car Sharing

Car sharing is prized by city planners and environmentalists as a way of mitigating the ills associated with 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 CO2 output to produce, and people without a vehicle tend to walk, cycle and take transit more. That helps urban areas – easing 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 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 deliberate steps to streamline operations, enhance profitability”.

Its latest financial reports said revenues had fallen as drivers took fewer and shorter trips. “This trend reflect the continuing effect of the economic squeeze, which is dampening 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 mosaic of different procedures and costs that complicate operations.
• Congestion Charge: The closure comes as electric cars start paying London’s congestion charge, adding extra expenses.
• Unequal Parking Fees: Locals in some boroughs pay just £63 for a annual electric car parking permit. A similar shared vehicle would pay over £1,100 per year, creating a major disincentive.

“We should literally be charged one-twentieth of a private parking cost,” 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 models for London to follow. Germany introduced national shared mobility laws in 2017, providing a nationwide framework 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 lags behind at 0.7.

“What we see is that shared mobility around the world, especially in Europe, 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 one unnamed client was looking at entering the London market: “Operators will fill this gap.”

The Future Landscape

Other players can be split 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 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 P2P service, is already weighing up the UK gap. Rory Brimmer, its UK head, said there was a “big opportunity” 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 establish themselves. In the meantime, more people may feel forced to buy cars, and others across London will be left without access.

For the volunteers in Rotherhithe, the coming weeks will be a rush to find a solution. The delivery problem caused by Zipcar’s exit highlights the wider implications of its departure on community groups and the future of shared mobility in the UK.