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The community kitchen in Rotherhithe has provided hundreds of cooked meals weekly for the past two years to pensioners and vulnerable locals in south London. However, their operations face major disruption by the news that they will not have cars and vans on New Year’s Day.

This organization had relied on Zipcar, the app-based vehicle rental service that allowed its fleet of vehicles via smartphone. The company caused shock through the capital when it said it would shut down its UK operations from 1 January.

It will mean many helpers cannot pick up supplies from a major food charity, that collects excess produce from grocery stores, cafes and restaurants. Other options are further away, costlier, or do not offer the same flexible hours.

“The impact will be massively,” stated Vimal Pandya, the community kitchen’s founder. “Personally me and my team are worried about the logistical challenge we will face. Many groups like ours are going to struggle.”

“Faced with this reality, they are all worried and thinking: ‘How are we going to carry on?”

A Major Blow for City Vehicle Clubs

The community kitchen’s drivers are part of more than half a million people in London who were car club members, now potentially left without convenient access to vehicles, avoiding the burden and cost of ownership. The vast majority of those people were probably with Zipcar, which held a dominant position in the city.

The planned closure, subject to consultation with employees, is a big blow to hopes that vehicle clubs in urban areas could cut the need for private vehicle ownership. Yet, some analysts have noted that Zipcar’s exit need not spell the end for the concept in Britain.

The Potential 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. Most cars sit as two-tonne dead weights on the side of the road for 95% of the time, using up space. They also require large CO2 output to produce, and people who do not own cars tend to walk, cycle and take public transport more. That benefits cities – easing congestion and pollution – and improves people’s health through more exercise.

Understanding the Decline

The company started in 2000 before its acquisition by the American rental giant Avis Budget in 2013. Zipcar’s UK income were minimal compared with its owner's total earnings, and a deficit that grew to £11.7m in 2024 gave no reason to continue.

Avis Budget has said the closure is part of a “broader transformation across our international business, where we are taking targeted actions to streamline operations, improve returns”.

Its latest financial reports noted revenues had fallen as drivers took fewer and shorter trips. “These changes reflect the continuing effect of the economic squeeze, which continues to suppress demand for discretionary spending,” it said.

London's Unique Challenges

Yet, several experts noted that London has particular issues 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 coincides with electric cars becoming liable for 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 annually, creating a major disincentive.

“Our fees should be one-twentieth of a resident’s permit,” argued Robert Schopen of Co Wheels. “We’re taking cars off the street. We’re putting less polluting cars in their place.”

A European Example

Other European countries offer models for London to follow. Germany enacted national shared mobility laws 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 public transport, and link it with train and bus stations. He added that one unnamed client was looking at entering the London market: “There will be fill this gap.”

The Future Landscape

Other players 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. Peer-to-Peer Services: Which allow users to rent 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 peer-to-peer platform, is assessing the UK gap. Rory Brimmer, its UK head, 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 some time for other players to establish themselves. In the meantime, more people may choose to buy cars, and many across London will be left without access.

For Rotherhithe community kitchen, the next month will be a scramble to find a way. The logistical challenge caused by Zipcar’s exit highlights the wider implications of its departure on community groups and the future of car-sharing in the UK.