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The volunteer food project in Rotherhithe has provided hundreds of prepared dishes weekly for two years to elderly residents and needy locals in southeast London. Yet, their operations have been thrown into disarray by the announcement that they will not have access to New Year’s Day.

This organization had relied on Zipcar, the app-based vehicle rental service that allowed its cars via smartphone. It caused shock through the capital when it said it would cease its UK operations from 1 January.

It will mean many volunteers will be unable to pick up supplies from a major food charity, that collects surplus food from grocery stores, cafes and restaurants. Other options are less convenient, costlier, or lack the same flexible hours.

“The impact will be massively,” said Vimal Pandya, the project's founder. “Personally me and my team are concerned by the logistical challenge we will face. Many groups like ours will face difficulties.”

“Faced with this reality, they are all worried and thinking: ‘How will we continue?’”

A Significant Setback for City Vehicle Clubs

The community kitchen’s drivers are among over 500,000 people in London who were car club members, now potentially left without easy use 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, pending consultation with employees, is a big blow to the vision that car sharing in cities could reduce the need for owning a car. Yet, some experts have noted that Zipcar’s departure need not spell the end for the idea in Britain.

The Promise of Shared Mobility

Car sharing is prized by many urbanists and environmentalists as a way of reducing the ills associated with vehicle ownership. Typically, vehicles sit as two-tonne dead weights on the street for 95% of the time, using up space. They also involve large CO2 output to produce, and people without a vehicle tend to use active travel and take public transport more. That helps urban areas – reducing congestion and pollution – and boosts 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 income barely registered compared with its owner'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 “broader transformation across our global operations, where we are taking targeted actions to simplify processes, enhance profitability”.

Its latest financial reports noted revenues had declined as drivers took fewer and shorter trips. “These changes reflect the ongoing impact 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 sector to succeed.

• Inconsistent Rules: Across 33 boroughs, car-club operators face a mosaic of varying processes and prices that complicate operations.
• Congestion Charge: The closure comes as electric cars becoming liable for London’s congestion charge, adding extra expenses.
• Unequal Parking Fees: Locals in some boroughs pay as little as £63 for a annual electric car parking permit. A similar shared vehicle 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 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, 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 trails at 0.7.

“What we see is that car sharing around the world, especially in Europe, is expanding,” said Bharath Devanathan of Invers.

He suggested authorities should start to treat car sharing as a form of mass transit, and link it with train and bus stations. He added that a potential operator was already seriously considering entering the London market: “There will be fill this gap.”

The Future Landscape

Other players can be split into two models:

1. Company-Owned Fleets: 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 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 assessing the UK gap. Rory Brimmer, its UK managing director, said there was a “significant chance” to win more users. “There is a void 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. For now, more people may choose 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 solution. The logistical challenge caused by Zipcar’s exit highlights the wider implications of its departure on vital services and the prospects of shared mobility in the UK.