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

The group depended on Zipcar, the car-sharing company that customers to access its cars via smartphone. It caused shock across London when it declared 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 surplus food from supermarkets, cafes and restaurants. Obvious alternatives are less convenient, more expensive, or do not offer the same convenient access.

“It’s going to be affected massively,” stated Vimal Pandya, the community kitchen’s founder. “My team and I are worried about the operational hurdle we will face. A lot of people like ours are going to struggle.”

“Faced with this reality, everyone is concerned and thinking: ‘How are we going to carry on?”

A Significant Setback for City Vehicle Clubs

These volunteers 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. The vast majority 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 hopes that vehicle clubs in cities could reduce the need for private vehicle ownership. Yet, some analysts have noted that Zipcar’s exit need not mean the demise for the concept in Britain.

The Potential of Shared Mobility

Shared vehicle use is valued by city planners and environmentalists as a way of reducing the problems associated with vehicle ownership. Most cars sit idle on the side of the road for 95% of the time, occupying parking. They also require large carbon emissions to produce, and people without a vehicle tend to walk, cycle and take transit more. That helps urban areas – reducing congestion and pollution – and improves public health through more exercise.

Understanding the Decline

Zipcar was founded in 2000 before its acquisition by the US car rental group Avis Budget in 2013. Zipcar’s UK revenues were minimal compared with its parent company's overall annual revenue, and a loss that reached £11.7m in 2024 gave no reason to continue.

Avis Budget has said the closure is part of a “wider restructuring across our international business, where we are taking targeted actions to simplify processes, improve returns”.

Its latest financial reports said revenues had declined as drivers took fewer and shorter trips. “This trend reflect the ongoing impact of the cost-of-living crisis, which is dampening demand for non-essential services,” it said.

London's Unique Hurdles

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

• Patchwork Policies: Across 33 boroughs, car-club operators face a mosaic of varying processes and costs that made it harder.
• New Costs: The closure comes as electric cars start paying London’s congestion charge, adding unavoidable costs.
• Unequal Parking Fees: Locals in some boroughs pay just £63 for a year’s electric car parking permit. A similar shared vehicle would pay over £1,100 per year, creating a significant barrier.

“Our fees should be one-twentieth of a resident’s permit,” said Robert Schopen of Co Wheels. “We’re taking cars off the street. We introduce cleaner models in their place.”

Lessons from Abroad

Nations in Europe offer examples for London to follow. Germany introduced national shared mobility laws in 2017, providing a nationwide framework for parking, subsidies and exemptions. 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 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: “Operators will fill this gap.”

What Comes Next?

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

1. Fleet Operators: 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.

One company, 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. “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 establish themselves. In the meantime, more people may choose to buy cars, and many across London will be without a convenient option.

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