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The volunteer food project in Rotherhithe has distributed a large number 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 access to New Year’s Day.

This organization had relied on Zipcar, the app-based vehicle rental service that allowed its cars via smartphone. The company sent shockwaves through the capital when it declared it would shut down its UK business from 1 January.

This means many helpers will be unable to collect food from the Felix Project, that collects surplus food from grocery stores, cafes and restaurants. Other options are further away, more expensive, or lack the same flexible hours.

“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. A lot of people like ours will face difficulties.”

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

A Significant Setback for Urban Car-Sharing

The community kitchen’s drivers are among over 500,000 people in London registered as car club members, who could be left without convenient access to vehicles, avoiding the burden and cost of ownership. Most of those members were probably with Zipcar, which had a near-monopoly position in the city.

The planned closure, pending consultation with employees, is a serious setback to hopes that car sharing in urban areas could cut the need for owning a car. However, some analysts have noted that Zipcar’s exit need not spell the end for the idea in Britain.

The Promise of Shared Mobility

Shared vehicle use is valued by city planners and green advocates as a way of mitigating the problems linked to vehicle ownership. Typically, vehicles sit idle on the street for 95% of the time, using up space. They also require large carbon emissions to produce, and people who do not own cars tend to walk, cycle and take transit more. That benefits cities – easing congestion and pollution – and improves public health through increased activity.

Understanding the Decline

Zipcar was founded in 2000 before its acquisition by the US car rental group Avis Budget in 2013. Zipcar’s UK income were minimal compared with its owner's overall annual revenue, 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 global operations, where we are taking targeted actions to simplify processes, enhance profitability”.

Its latest financial reports noted revenues had fallen as drivers took less frequent, shorter trips. “This trend reflect the continuing effect of the economic squeeze, which is dampening demand for discretionary spending,” it said.

London's Unique Challenges

However, several experts noted that London has particular issues that made it much harder for the company and its rivals to succeed.

• Inconsistent Rules: With numerous local councils, car-club operators face a mosaic of different procedures and costs that complicate operations.
• New Costs: The closure comes as electric cars start paying London’s congestion charge, adding unavoidable costs.
• Unequal Parking Fees: Residents in some boroughs pay just £63 for a year’s electric car parking permit. A floating car club would pay over £1,100 annually, creating a significant barrier.

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

A European Example

Nations in Europe offer models for London to follow. Germany enacted national car-sharing legislation in 2017, providing a nationwide framework for parking, support 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 shared mobility 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 public transport, and integrate 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 roughly be divided into two models:

1. Company-Owned Fleets: Which own or lease 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 – a kind of Airbnb for cars. Players include Britain’s Hiyacar and the US’s Getaround and Turo.

One company, a US-headquartered peer-to-peer platform, is already weighing up 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.

However, it could take a while 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 way. The logistical challenge caused by Zipcar’s exit underscores the wider implications of its departure on community groups and the prospects of shared mobility in the UK.