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The community kitchen in Rotherhithe has been delivering hundreds of prepared dishes weekly for the past two years to pensioners and needy locals in south London. However, their operations have been thrown into disarray by the news that they will lose cars and vans on New Year’s Day.

This organization depended on Zipcar, the app-based vehicle rental service that customers to access its cars from the street. It caused shock through the capital when it said it would cease its UK operations from 1 January.

It will mean many volunteers cannot pick up supplies from a major food charity, that collects surplus food from supermarkets, cafes and restaurants. Obvious alternatives are further away, costlier, or do not offer 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. A lot of people like ours will face difficulties.”

“Knowing the reality, they are all worried and thinking: ‘How will we continue?’”

A Major Blow for City Vehicle Clubs

The community kitchen’s drivers are part of over 500,000 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, subject to consultation with staff, is a big blow to the vision that car sharing in urban areas could reduce the need for private vehicle ownership. However, some experts also suggested that Zipcar’s departure need not spell the end for the idea in Britain.

The Potential of Shared Mobility

Car sharing is prized by city planners and environmentalists as a way of mitigating the problems linked to vehicle ownership. Most cars sit idle on the side of the road for the vast majority of the time, using up space. They also involve large CO2 output to produce, and people who do not own cars tend to walk, cycle and take public transport more. That helps urban areas – easing congestion and pollution – and improves public health through more exercise.

What Went Wrong?

The company started in 2000 before its acquisition by the US car rental group Avis Budget in 2013. Zipcar’s UK revenues barely registered compared with its parent company's overall annual revenue, and a deficit that grew to £11.7m in 2024 gave no reason to continue.

The parent company stated the closure is part of a “wider restructuring across our international business, where we are taking targeted actions to simplify processes, enhance profitability”.

Its latest financial reports noted revenues had declined as drivers took less frequent, shorter trips. “These changes reflect the ongoing impact of the cost-of-living crisis, which continues to suppress demand for non-essential services,” it said.

The Capital's Specific Challenges

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

• Inconsistent Rules: Across 33 boroughs, car-club operators face a patchwork of different procedures and costs that complicate operations.
• Congestion Charge: The closure coincides with electric cars becoming liable for London’s congestion charge, adding unavoidable costs.
• Parking Permit Disparity: Locals in some boroughs pay as little as £63 for a annual electric car parking permit. A floating car club would pay over £1,100 per year, creating a significant barrier.

“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 introduce cleaner models in their place.”

Lessons from Abroad

Other European countries offer models for London to follow. Germany enacted national car-sharing legislation in 2017, providing a nationwide framework for parking, support 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 car sharing around the world, especially in Europe, is growing,” commented Bharath Devanathan of Invers.

Devanathan said 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 already seriously considering 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. Company-Owned Fleets: Which maintain their own cars. Examples 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 – 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 “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.

Yet, 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 without a convenient option.

For the volunteers in Rotherhithe, the next month will be a rush to find a way. The delivery problem caused by Zipcar’s exit underscores the wider implications of its departure on vital services and the prospects of car-sharing in the UK.