Mayor urged to take action over Zipcar departure

An intervention by the mayor of London is needed to safeguard the future of car clubs in the capital, environmental groups have said.

Sir Sadiq Khan was told “urgent questions” had been raised about how “policy conditions in our city are harmful to car sharing services”, after the car-sharing firm Zipcar announced it would stop operating in the city from 31 December.

The letter comes ahead of an extraordinary meeting in City Hall later, to discuss four policy suggestions for the mayor and Transport for London (TfL), including an urgent plan to fill the gap left by Zipcar.

A spokesperson for the mayor said he “wants to ensure that car clubs can remain an option for Londoners”.

The letter said the loss of a major electric car club operator was “deeply concerning” and “London risks falling even further behind other global cities that are leveraging shared, electric mobility as a cornerstone of their climate and transport strategies”.

Signatories called on Sir Sadiq Khan demanding urgent action to ensure shared transport businesses can remain viable in London.

Zipcar did not lay out the specific reasons for stopping operating in the UK, but the firm had previously warned of the impact of changes to the congestion charge, which will see a 20% price increase to £18 and the end of the electric vehicle (EV) exemption from the levy.

James Taylor, the General Manager at Zipcar UK, told MPs in September the removal of the 100% EV discount could make car clubs “commercially unviable” in the capital.

What are car clubs?

Car clubs are services where members can access vehicles for a fixed period, with consumers usually able to pay by the minute, hour or day. They are either parked at hubs with other shared transport vehicles or left in dedicated parking bays and areas on the streets.

Seen as an alternative model to private car ownership, they are a crucial part of the mayor’s transport strategy to decongest London’s roads.
Campaign manager of Clean Cities London, Zak Bond, wrote in the Financial Times that Zipcar’s “abrupt withdrawal from the UK is a significant setback for delivery of the mayor of London’s transport strategy and for London’s wider decarbonisation goals”.

He added: “It also raises urgent questions about why policy conditions in the capital have become so inhospitable to car-sharing operators, a mode that reduces private car ownership, lowers emissions and supports more efficient use of road space.

“The mayor of London and the boroughs must now work together, with urgency, to establish a more supportive environment for car-sharing, including fairer, cheaper parking arrangements for this socially and environmentally useful form of transport.

“If they fail to do so, the vacuum left by Zipcar will push many back into private car ownership, undermining the city’s climate goals.”

The chair of London councils’ transport and environment committee, Brenda Dacres, described car clubs as “an important part of London’s transport offer” and helped to lower carbon emissions.

She added: “The recent announcement that Zipcar intends to close its UK operations is an issue of considerable concern for boroughs and for those residents who currently rely on their services.

“London boroughs have worked constructively with Zipcar for more than 20 years, making thousands of parking bays and EV charging points available through locally-negotiated arrangements.”

The mayor’s spokesperson added: “TfL and the mayor’s teams are meeting stakeholders including boroughs and car club operators over the coming days, to discuss these issues and consider opportunities to collaborate with councils to address the short-term challenges in London’s car club market, as well as longer-term solutions to support the sector moving forward.”