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The community kitchen in Rotherhithe has distributed a large number of cooked meals each week for the past two years to pensioners and vulnerable locals in southeast London. However, the group's plans face major disruption by the news that they will lose use of New Year’s Day.

This organization depended on Zipcar, the app-based vehicle rental service that allowed its fleet of vehicles via smartphone. It caused shock across London when it declared it would shut down its UK business from 1 January.

This means many helpers cannot pick up supplies from a major food charity, which gathers excess produce from supermarkets, cafes and restaurants. Other options are less convenient, more expensive, or do not offer the same convenient access.

“It’s going to be affected massively,” stated Vimal Pandya, the project's founder. “My team and I are worried about the operational hurdle we will face. Many groups like ours are going to struggle.”

“Knowing the reality, everyone is concerned and thinking: ‘How are we going to carry on?”

A Major Blow for Urban Car-Sharing

The community kitchen’s drivers are among over 500,000 people in London who were car club members, now potentially left without convenient access to vehicles, without the hassle and cost of ownership. The vast majority of those members were probably with Zipcar, which had a near-monopoly position in the city.

This shutdown, subject to consultation with staff, is a serious setback to the vision that vehicle clubs in cities could reduce the need for private vehicle ownership. Yet, some analysts have noted that Zipcar’s departure need not spell the end for the concept in Britain.

The Promise of Car Sharing

Shared vehicle use is valued by many urbanists and environmentalists as a way of mitigating the problems associated with vehicle ownership. Typically, vehicles sit as two-tonne dead weights on the side of the road for 95% of the time, using up space. They also involve large carbon emissions to produce, and people without a vehicle tend to use active travel and take transit more. That benefits cities – easing congestion and pollution – and improves people’s 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 parent company's total earnings, and a loss that grew to £11.7m in 2024 gave no reason to continue.

The parent company stated the closure is part of a “wider restructuring across our international business, where we are taking deliberate steps to streamline operations, improve returns”.

Zipcar’s most recent accounts noted revenues had declined as drivers took less frequent, shorter trips. “These changes reflect the ongoing impact of the economic squeeze, which is dampening demand for non-essential services,” it said.

The Capital's Specific Challenges

Yet, industry observers noted that London has specific problems that made it difficult for the company and its rivals to succeed.

• Patchwork Policies: Across 33 boroughs, car-club operators face a patchwork of varying processes and prices that complicate operations.
• New Costs: The closure coincides with electric cars becoming liable for London’s congestion charge, adding unavoidable costs.
• Parking Permit Disparity: Residents in some boroughs pay just £63 for a year’s electric car parking permit. A similar shared vehicle 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’re taking cars off the street. We introduce cleaner models 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 unified system 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.

“The evidence shows is that shared mobility around the world, particularly on the continent, is expanding,” said Bharath Devanathan of Invers.

Devanathan said 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: “There will be 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 rent out their own vehicles via an app – similar to 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 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.

However, it could take some time for other players to establish themselves. For now, 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 delivery problem caused by Zipcar’s exit underscores the broader impact of its departure on community groups and the future of shared mobility in the UK.