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The volunteer food project in Rotherhithe has been delivering a large number of cooked meals weekly for two years to pensioners and needy locals in southeast London. However, their operations face major disruption by the announcement that they will lose cars and vans on New Year’s Day.

This organization depended on Zipcar, the car-sharing company that allowed its fleet of vehicles from the street. The company sent shockwaves across London when it said it would shut down its UK operations 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. Other options are less convenient, more expensive, or lack the same flexible hours.

“The impact will be massively,” said Vimal Pandya, the community kitchen’s founder. “Personally me and my team are concerned by the operational hurdle we will face. A lot of people like ours are going to struggle.”

“Faced with this reality, everyone is concerned and thinking: ‘How are we going to carry on?”

A Major Blow for City Vehicle Clubs

The community kitchen’s drivers are among over 500,000 people in London registered as car club members, who could be left without easy use to vehicles, avoiding the burden and cost of ownership. Most of those members were probably 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. Yet, some analysts have noted that Zipcar’s exit need not mean the demise for the idea in Britain.

The Potential of Car Sharing

Shared vehicle use is prized by city planners and environmentalists as a way of reducing the ills associated with vehicle ownership. Most cars sit as two-tonne dead weights on the street for 95% of the time, occupying parking. 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 benefits cities – easing congestion and pollution – and improves people’s health through more exercise.

Understanding the Decline

Zipcar was founded in 2000 before being bought by the US car rental group Avis Budget in 2013. Zipcar’s UK income were minimal compared with its owner's overall annual revenue, and a loss that reached £11.7m in 2024 gave little incentive to continue.

Avis Budget has said the closure is part of a “broader transformation across our global operations, where we are taking targeted actions to simplify processes, enhance profitability”.

Zipcar’s most recent accounts noted revenues had declined as drivers took fewer and shorter trips. “This trend reflect the continuing effect of the economic squeeze, which continues to suppress demand for non-essential services,” it said.

The Capital's Specific Hurdles

However, industry observers noted that London has particular issues that made it difficult for the company and its rivals to succeed.

• Inconsistent Rules: Across 33 boroughs, car-club operators face a patchwork of varying processes and costs that made it harder.
• New Costs: The closure coincides with electric cars becoming liable for London’s congestion charge, adding unavoidable costs.
• Parking Permit Disparity: Locals in some boroughs pay just £63 for a annual electric car parking permit. A floating car club would pay over £1,100 per year, creating a major disincentive.

“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

Other European countries offer examples for London to follow. Germany enacted national car-sharing legislation in 2017, providing a nationwide framework 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 trails at 0.7.

“The evidence shows is that shared mobility around the world, particularly on the continent, is expanding,” 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. “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. For now, more people may choose to buy cars, and many 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 delivery problem caused by Zipcar’s exit underscores the wider implications of its departure on vital services and the prospects of car-sharing in the UK.