High charges from some London councils may have contributed to the exit of Zipcar from the UK at the start of the year, according to a network of over 140 environmental NGOs.
Independent research commissioned by Clean Cities found that car club parking tariffs far exceeded the price for parking a private car, with maximum costs averaging more than £900 per year per shared car. Worse still, many boroughs have policies leading to almost double this amount. [1]
Kensington and Chelsea, spiritual home of the SUV, had the highest maximum tariff for a car club parking permit, and could be charging up to £2,382 for a single car club permit, while the lowest was Merton at £80. A small number of boroughs do not charge for bay permits for car clubs, including Brent, Croydon, Harrow and Enfield.
Following the exit of Zipcar from the market Southwark Council promised to cut parking costs. Now, Richmond and Wandsworth Councils have pledged to cut the charges. Campaigners are calling for all London boroughs to follow suit ahead of local elections in May.
Seven local authorities: Barnet, Bexley, City of London, Havering, Hillingdon, Lewisham and Redbridge, indicated that car clubs do not operate in their local authority. The campaigners urge those local authorities to commit to implementing a borough car club action plan to get car sharing off the ground in their areas.
The research, compiled using FOI requests, is published as campaigners urge London councillors to commit to cutting car club charges ahead of crucial elections in May, with the goal that all residents can be within walking distance of an electric car they can hire.
Zak Bond, Campaign Manager at Clean Cities, said: “The positive news is that some London boroughs are now starting to cut charges for car clubs, some of which were astronomical before. We know many people will feel like they are forced to buy a private car if they can no longer access a car club.
“Cutting costs is an important step towards rebuilding the market for electric car clubs in London, and indeed the rest of the UK. We’ll only tackle climate change and pollution if we give people access to affordable and convenient shared electric cars.”
Richard Dilks, Chief Executive of CoMoUK, said: “We’ve warned for years that a difficult policy environment and rising costs would affect the viability of car clubs. Car clubs have faced sharp rises in costs such as council parking permits, insurance, charging costs for EVs and recent changes to the Congestion Charge. But there is hope – where boroughs commit to reducing costs, speeding up and simplifying processes and being flexible – we can restart the market and get back on the right path to healthier neighbourhoods for all.”
Zipcar was the largest car club operator in the UK, with an estimated 650,000 members across the country, and 550,000 in London including both residents and businesses.
