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A community kitchen in Rotherhithe has been delivering hundreds of cooked meals weekly for the past two years to elderly residents and vulnerable locals in southeast London. Yet, their operations have been thrown into disarray by the announcement that they will lose cars and vans on New Year’s Day.

The group had relied on Zipcar, the app-based vehicle rental service that customers to access its fleet of vehicles from the street. It sent shockwaves through the capital when it declared it would cease its UK business from 1 January.

This means many volunteers will be unable to collect food from the Felix Project, that collects excess produce from grocery stores, cafes and restaurants. Obvious alternatives are less convenient, costlier, or lack the same flexible hours.

“The impact will be massively,” stated Vimal Pandya, the project's founder. “Personally me and my team are worried about the logistical challenge 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 among more than half a million people in London registered as car club members, who could be left without easy use to vehicles, avoiding the burden and cost of ownership. Most of those people were likely with Zipcar, which held a dominant position in the city.

The planned closure, pending consultation with employees, is a big blow to hopes that car sharing in cities could reduce the need for owning a car. However, some analysts also suggested 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 mitigating the problems linked to vehicle ownership. Typically, vehicles sit idle 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 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 being bought by the American rental giant Avis Budget in 2013. Zipcar’s UK revenues barely registered compared with its parent company'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 “wider restructuring across our global operations, where we are taking targeted actions to simplify processes, 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 cost-of-living crisis, which continues to suppress demand for discretionary spending,” it said.

London's Unique Hurdles

However, several experts 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 varying processes and costs that complicate operations.
• New Costs: The closure comes as electric cars becoming liable for London’s congestion charge, adding extra expenses.
• Parking Permit Disparity: Residents in some boroughs pay just £63 for a annual 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’re putting less polluting cars in their place.”

A European Example

Other European countries offer examples for London to follow. Germany introduced national car-sharing legislation in 2017, providing a unified system for parking, subsidies 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.

“What we see is that shared mobility around the world, particularly on the continent, is expanding,” said Bharath Devanathan of Invers.

He suggested 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: “There will be fill this gap.”

The Future Landscape

Other players can roughly be divided into two models:

1. Fleet Operators: Which maintain 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 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.

One company, a US-headquartered peer-to-peer platform, 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.

Yet, it could take some time for other players to build momentum. In the meantime, more people may choose to buy cars, and others across London will be without a convenient option.

For Rotherhithe community kitchen, the next month will be a scramble to find a way. The logistical challenge caused by Zipcar’s exit highlights the broader impact of its departure on vital services and the future of car-sharing in the UK.