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A community kitchen in Rotherhithe has provided a large number of prepared dishes weekly for the past two years to pensioners and vulnerable locals in southeast London. Yet, 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 app-based vehicle rental service that allowed its cars from the street. The company caused shock across London when it declared it would shut down its UK business from 1 January.

It will mean many volunteers cannot collect food from the Felix Project, that collects excess produce from supermarkets, cafes and restaurants. Other options are further away, more expensive, or lack the same convenient access.

“The impact will be 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 are going to struggle.”

“Faced with this reality, everyone is concerned and thinking: ‘How will we continue?’”

A Significant Setback for City Vehicle Clubs

The community kitchen’s drivers are part of more than half a million people in London who were car club members, now potentially left without easy use to vehicles, avoiding the burden and cost of ownership. Most of those people were probably with Zipcar, which held a dominant position in the city.

This shutdown, subject to consultation with employees, is a big blow to hopes that vehicle clubs in urban areas could cut the need for owning a car. However, some analysts also suggested that Zipcar’s departure need not spell the end for the concept in Britain.

The Promise of Shared Mobility

Shared vehicle use is prized by many urbanists and environmentalists as a way of mitigating the problems linked to vehicle ownership. Most cars sit as two-tonne dead weights 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 – easing congestion and pollution – and improves people’s health through more exercise.

Understanding the Decline

The company started in 2000 before being bought by the US car rental group Avis Budget in 2013. Zipcar’s UK income 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 “broader transformation across our global operations, where we are taking deliberate steps to streamline operations, improve returns”.

Its latest financial reports said revenues had fallen as drivers took less frequent, shorter trips. “This trend reflect the ongoing impact of the cost-of-living crisis, which continues to suppress demand for discretionary spending,” it said.

The Capital's Specific Challenges

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

• Inconsistent Rules: Across 33 boroughs, car-club operators face a mosaic of varying processes and prices that made it harder.
• New Costs: The closure comes as electric cars becoming liable for London’s congestion charge, adding extra expenses.
• Parking Permit Disparity: Locals 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 significant barrier.

“Our fees should be one-twentieth of a resident’s permit,” said 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 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 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 public transport, 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.”

The Future Landscape

Other players can roughly be divided 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 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.

One company, a US-headquartered P2P service, is already weighing up 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.

However, it could take a while for other players to build momentum. In the meantime, more people may feel forced to buy cars, and others across London will be left without access.

For Rotherhithe community kitchen, the coming weeks will be a scramble to find a solution. The logistical challenge caused by Zipcar’s exit underscores the broader impact of its departure on community groups and the future of shared mobility in the UK.