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The volunteer food project in Rotherhithe has been delivering a large number of cooked meals 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 cars and vans on New Year’s Day.

The group depended on Zipcar, the app-based vehicle rental service that customers to access its cars via smartphone. It sent shockwaves across London when it declared it would cease its UK operations from 1 January.

It will mean many helpers will be unable to pick up supplies from the Felix Project, which gathers excess produce from supermarkets, cafes and restaurants. Obvious alternatives are further away, costlier, or do not offer the same convenient access.

“The impact will be massively,” stated Vimal Pandya, the project's founder. “Personally me and my team are concerned by the operational hurdle we will face. Many groups like ours will face difficulties.”

“Faced with this reality, they are all worried and thinking: ‘How will we continue?’”

A Significant Setback for Urban Car-Sharing

These volunteers are part of over 500,000 people in London who were car club members, who could be left without convenient access to vehicles, avoiding the burden and cost of ownership. Most of those members were likely with Zipcar, which held a dominant position in the city.

This shutdown, pending consultation with staff, is a big blow to the vision that vehicle clubs in urban areas could cut the need for private vehicle ownership. Yet, 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 valued by many urbanists and environmentalists 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 carbon emissions to produce, and people who do not own cars tend to walk, cycle and take transit more. That helps urban areas – easing congestion and pollution – and improves public health through more exercise.

What Went Wrong?

Zipcar was founded in 2000 before being bought by the US car rental group Avis Budget in 2013. Zipcar’s UK income barely registered compared with its owner's total earnings, and a deficit that reached £11.7m in 2024 gave no reason to continue.

The parent company stated the closure is part of a “broader transformation across our international business, where we are taking deliberate steps to simplify processes, improve returns”.

Zipcar’s most recent accounts noted revenues had fallen as drivers took fewer and shorter trips. “These changes reflect the ongoing impact of the cost-of-living crisis, which is dampening demand for non-essential services,” 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 complicate operations.
• New Costs: The closure comes as 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 year’s electric car parking permit. A similar shared vehicle would pay over £1,100 per year, creating a significant barrier.

“We should literally be charged one-twentieth of a private parking cost,” argued Robert Schopen of Co Wheels. “We remove vehicles. We’re putting less polluting cars in their place.”

Lessons from Abroad

Nations in Europe 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 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 car sharing around the world, particularly on the continent, is expanding,” said Bharath Devanathan of Invers.

Devanathan said authorities should start to treat car sharing as a form of public transport, 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?

Other players can be split into two camps:

1. Company-Owned Fleets: Which maintain their own cars. This includes 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.

One company, a US-headquartered P2P service, is assessing 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.

However, it could take some time for other players to establish themselves. In the meantime, more people may feel forced to buy cars, and many across London will be without a convenient option.

For the volunteers in Rotherhithe, the coming weeks will be a scramble to find a solution. The delivery problem caused by Zipcar’s exit highlights the wider implications of its departure on community groups and the prospects of shared mobility in the UK.