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A volunteer food project in Rotherhithe has provided hundreds of cooked meals weekly for the past two years to pensioners and needy locals in south London. However, the group's plans face major disruption by the news that they will lose cars and vans on New Year’s Day.

This organization had relied on Zipcar, the car-sharing company that customers to access its fleet of vehicles via smartphone. The company caused shock across London when it said it would cease its UK business from 1 January.

This means many volunteers will be unable to collect food from the Felix Project, that collects excess produce from grocery stores, cafes and restaurants. Obvious alternatives are further away, more expensive, or do not offer the same flexible hours.

“The impact will be massively,” said 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 will face difficulties.”

“Knowing the reality, they are all worried 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 easy use to vehicles, without the hassle and cost of ownership. Most of those members were probably with Zipcar, which held a dominant position in the city.

The planned closure, pending consultation with employees, is a big blow to hopes that car sharing in cities could cut the need for owning a car. However, some experts have noted that Zipcar’s departure need not mean the demise for the concept in Britain.

The Promise of Car Sharing

Shared vehicle use is prized by many urbanists and environmentalists as a way of mitigating the problems associated with vehicle ownership. Most cars sit as two-tonne dead weights on the street for 95% of the time, using up space. They also involve large carbon emissions to produce, and people without a vehicle tend to walk, cycle and take public transport more. That helps urban areas – reducing congestion and pollution – and improves 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 revenues barely registered compared with its parent company's overall annual revenue, and a loss that grew to £11.7m in 2024 gave no reason to continue.

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

Its latest financial reports said revenues had declined as drivers took less frequent, shorter trips. “These changes reflect the continuing effect of the cost-of-living crisis, which is dampening demand for discretionary spending,” it said.

London's Unique Hurdles

Yet, industry observers noted that London has specific problems that made it difficult for the sector to succeed.

• Inconsistent Rules: Across 33 boroughs, car-club operators face a mosaic of varying processes and costs that made it harder.
• Congestion Charge: The closure coincides with electric cars start paying London’s congestion charge, adding unavoidable costs.
• Parking Permit Disparity: 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 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 introduced national car-sharing legislation in 2017, providing a nationwide framework for parking, subsidies and exemptions. Now, the country has several 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 growing,” 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 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. 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 “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 others across London will be without a convenient option.

For the volunteers in Rotherhithe, the next month will be a scramble to find a solution. The logistical challenge caused by Zipcar’s exit underscores the wider implications of its departure on vital services and the future of shared mobility in the UK.