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A community kitchen in Rotherhithe has provided a large number of cooked meals weekly for the past two years to elderly residents and needy locals in south London. However, their operations 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 customers to access its cars via smartphone. It sent shockwaves through the capital when it declared it would shut down its UK operations from 1 January.

This means many volunteers will be unable to pick up supplies from a major food charity, which gathers surplus food from grocery stores, cafes and restaurants. Obvious alternatives are further away, costlier, or do not offer the same convenient access.

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

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

A Significant Setback for Urban Car-Sharing

The community kitchen’s drivers are part of more than half a million people in London registered as car club members, who could be left without easy use to vehicles, without the hassle and cost of ownership. Most of those members were likely with Zipcar, which held a dominant position in the city.

The planned closure, subject to consultation with employees, is a serious setback to hopes that car sharing in urban areas could reduce the need for private vehicle ownership. However, some analysts also suggested that Zipcar’s departure need not spell the end for the idea in Britain.

The Potential of Shared Mobility

Shared vehicle use is prized by many urbanists and environmentalists as a way of reducing the ills linked to vehicle ownership. Most cars sit as two-tonne dead weights on the street for the vast majority of the time, using up space. They also require large carbon emissions to produce, and people without a vehicle tend to use active travel and take public transport more. That helps urban areas – easing congestion and pollution – and boosts public health through increased activity.

Understanding the Decline

The company started in 2000 before being bought by the American rental giant Avis Budget in 2013. Zipcar’s UK income were minimal compared with its owner's total earnings, and a loss that grew to £11.7m in 2024 gave little incentive to continue.

Avis Budget has said the closure is part of a “broader transformation across our international business, where we are taking deliberate steps to streamline operations, enhance profitability”.

Its latest financial reports noted revenues had declined as drivers took less frequent, shorter trips. “This trend reflect the ongoing impact of the economic squeeze, 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.

• Inconsistent Rules: With numerous local councils, car-club operators face a patchwork of different procedures and prices that made it harder.
• New Costs: The closure comes as electric cars start paying 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 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,” argued Robert Schopen of Co Wheels. “We remove vehicles. We introduce cleaner models in their place.”

A European Example

Other European countries offer examples for London to follow. Germany enacted national shared mobility laws 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.

“The evidence shows is that car sharing around the world, especially in Europe, is expanding,” commented Bharath Devanathan of Invers.

He suggested authorities should start to view vehicle clubs as a form of mass transit, and link 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 camps:

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 P2P service, is assessing the UK gap. Rory Brimmer, its UK managing director, 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. For now, more people may feel forced to buy cars, and many across London will be left without access.

For Rotherhithe community kitchen, the next month will be a rush to find a way. The delivery problem caused by Zipcar’s exit underscores the wider implications of its departure on community groups and the prospects of car-sharing in the UK.