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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 southeast London. However, the group's plans have been thrown into disarray by the announcement that they will lose use of New Year’s Day.

The group had relied on Zipcar, the car-sharing company that allowed its fleet of vehicles via smartphone. The company caused shock through the capital when it said it would cease its UK operations from 1 January.

This means many volunteers will be unable to pick up supplies from the Felix Project, that collects surplus food from supermarkets, cafes and restaurants. Obvious alternatives are further away, costlier, or lack 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 are going to struggle.”

“Knowing the reality, everyone is concerned and thinking: ‘How will we continue?’”

A Significant Setback for City Vehicle Clubs

These volunteers are among over 500,000 people in London who were 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 probably with Zipcar, which had a near-monopoly position in the city.

This shutdown, subject to consultation with employees, is a serious setback to hopes that vehicle clubs in cities could reduce the need for owning a car. However, some analysts also suggested that Zipcar’s departure need not spell the end for the idea in Britain.

The Promise of Shared Mobility

Car sharing is prized by city planners and green advocates as a way of reducing the problems linked to vehicle ownership. Typically, vehicles sit as two-tonne dead weights on the street for the vast majority of the time, occupying parking. They also require large CO2 output to produce, and people without a vehicle tend to walk, cycle and take transit more. That benefits cities – easing congestion and pollution – and boosts public health through more exercise.

What Went Wrong?

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 total earnings, and a loss 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 international business, where we are taking targeted actions to streamline operations, enhance profitability”.

Its latest financial reports noted revenues had fallen as drivers took less frequent, shorter trips. “These changes reflect the continuing effect of the cost-of-living crisis, which is dampening demand for discretionary spending,” it said.

London's Unique Challenges

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

• Patchwork Policies: With numerous local councils, car-club operators face a patchwork of varying processes 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: Residents in some boroughs pay just £63 for a annual electric car parking permit. A floating car club would pay over £1,100 per year, creating a significant barrier.

“Our fees should be one-twentieth of a private parking cost,” said Robert Schopen of Co Wheels. “We remove vehicles. We’re putting less polluting cars in their place.”

Lessons from Abroad

Other European countries offer examples for London to follow. Germany introduced national car-sharing legislation in 2017, providing a nationwide framework for parking, subsidies and exemptions. 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,” 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: “Operators will fill this gap.”

What Comes Next?

Other players can be split 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. Peer-to-Peer Services: Which allow users to hire out their own vehicles via an app – similar to Airbnb for cars. Players include Britain’s Hiyacar and the US’s Getaround and Turo.

Turo, a US-headquartered peer-to-peer platform, is already weighing up 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 establish themselves. For now, more people may feel forced 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 delivery problem caused by Zipcar’s exit underscores the wider implications of its departure on vital services and the prospects of shared mobility in the UK.