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The volunteer food project in Rotherhithe has distributed hundreds of prepared dishes each week for two years to elderly residents and vulnerable locals in southeast London. However, their operations face major disruption by the news that they will lose use of New Year’s Day.

The group had relied on Zipcar, the car-sharing company that allowed its cars from the street. The company sent shockwaves through the capital when it said 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 lack 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. A lot of people like ours are going to struggle.”

“Knowing the reality, they are all worried and thinking: ‘How will we continue?’”

A Major Blow for Urban Car-Sharing

These volunteers are among over 500,000 people in London who were car club members, who could be left without easy use to vehicles, without the hassle and cost of ownership. Most of those people were likely with Zipcar, which had a near-monopoly position in the city.

This shutdown, pending consultation with staff, is a serious setback to the vision that car sharing in cities could cut the need for private vehicle ownership. However, some experts also suggested that Zipcar’s departure need not spell the end for the idea in Britain.

The Potential of Car Sharing

Car sharing is prized by city planners and green advocates as a way of reducing the problems associated with vehicle ownership. Most cars sit idle on the street 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 use active travel and take transit more. That helps urban areas – reducing congestion and pollution – and boosts people’s health through more exercise.

Understanding the Decline

Zipcar was founded in 2000 before being bought by the American rental giant Avis Budget in 2013. Zipcar’s UK income were minimal compared with its parent company's overall annual revenue, and a deficit that reached £11.7m in 2024 gave no reason to continue.

Avis Budget has said the closure is part of a “wider restructuring across our global operations, where we are taking deliberate steps to streamline operations, improve returns”.

Its latest financial reports noted revenues had fallen as drivers took fewer and shorter trips. “These changes reflect the ongoing impact of the cost-of-living crisis, which continues to suppress demand for discretionary spending,” it said.

London's Unique Hurdles

However, industry observers 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 patchwork of varying processes 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: Residents in some boroughs pay as little as £63 for a annual 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 remove vehicles. We introduce cleaner models in their place.”

Lessons from Abroad

Nations in Europe offer models for London to follow. Germany introduced national shared mobility laws in 2017, providing a unified system 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 lags behind at 0.7.

“The evidence shows is that shared mobility around the world, particularly on the continent, is growing,” 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 a potential operator was already seriously considering entering the London market: “There will be fill this gap.”

What Comes Next?

The company’s competitors can be split into two models:

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 – similar to Airbnb for cars. Players include Britain’s Hiyacar and the US’s Getaround and Turo.

Turo, a US-headquartered peer-to-peer platform, is already weighing up the UK gap. Rory Brimmer, its UK managing director, said there was a “big opportunity” 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 build momentum. In the meantime, more people may choose to buy cars, and many across London will be left without access.

For the volunteers in Rotherhithe, the coming weeks will be a scramble 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 shared mobility in the UK.