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The community kitchen in Rotherhithe has distributed hundreds of prepared dishes weekly for two years to elderly residents and vulnerable locals in south London. Yet, their operations have been thrown into disarray by the announcement that they will lose access to New Year’s Day.

The group depended on Zipcar, the app-based vehicle rental service that allowed its cars via smartphone. The company caused shock across London when it declared 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 surplus food from supermarkets, cafes and restaurants. Obvious alternatives are less convenient, more expensive, or do not offer the same flexible hours.

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

“Faced with this reality, everyone is concerned 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, without the hassle and cost of ownership. Most of those members were likely with Zipcar, which had a near-monopoly position in the city.

The planned closure, subject to consultation with staff, is a serious setback to the vision that vehicle clubs in cities could cut the need for private vehicle ownership. Yet, some experts also suggested that Zipcar’s departure need not spell the end for the concept in Britain.

The Potential of Car Sharing

Shared vehicle use is prized by many urbanists and environmentalists as a way of mitigating the problems linked to vehicle ownership. Typically, vehicles sit idle on the street for 95% of the time, occupying parking. They also involve large carbon emissions to produce, and people who do not own cars tend to use active travel and take public transport more. That benefits cities – easing congestion and pollution – and improves people’s 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 revenues barely registered compared with its parent company's total earnings, and a loss that reached £11.7m in 2024 gave little incentive to continue.

The parent company stated the closure is part of a “wider restructuring across our international business, where we are taking targeted actions to simplify processes, improve returns”.

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

London's Unique Hurdles

However, several experts noted that London has specific problems that made it difficult 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 complicate operations.
• New Costs: The closure comes as electric cars start paying London’s congestion charge, adding extra expenses.
• Parking Permit Disparity: 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 major disincentive.

“We should literally be charged one-twentieth of a resident’s permit,” said Robert Schopen of Co Wheels. “We remove vehicles. We’re putting less polluting cars 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 unified system for parking, subsidies and waivers. Now, the country has several shared cars per 10,000 people, while France has 2.1 and Belgium has 6.3. The UK lags behind at 0.7.

“What we see is that car sharing around the world, especially in Europe, is expanding,” commented Bharath Devanathan of Invers.

He suggested authorities should start to treat car sharing as a form of mass transit, 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.”

What Comes Next?

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

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 hire out their own vehicles via an app – a kind of Airbnb for cars. Examples Britain’s Hiyacar and the US’s Getaround and Turo.

Turo, a US-headquartered P2P service, 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 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 solution. The logistical challenge caused by Zipcar’s exit underscores the broader impact of its departure on vital services and the prospects of car-sharing in the UK.