ZIPCAR’S UK membership has hit a quarter of a million, indicating that car sharing is gaining popularity as drivers look for alternatives to car ownership.
Membership grew by 33% last year to 250,000 with the number of vehicles in the UK now at 2,600. The free-floating service Zipcar Flex is now available in 10 London boroughs, with more in the pipeline.
Zipcar has been operating in the UK for 15 years, originally called Streetcar and during this time car sharing has been steadily growing. London boroughs have seen steady growth in with Zipcar UK, including Lewisham (44% YOY growth) and Wandsworth (+38%).
General Manager Jonathan Hampson believes the growing popularity of car sharing is down to a combination of factors: “For one, London is an increasingly expensive city to live in, and people just can’t afford to own a car when they don’t need it every day, so it makes more sense to share. Especially with the new ULEZ charges about to come into force.
“Secondly, pollution is now considered to be at crisis level by 90% of Londoners which is prompting them to seek out greener ways to get around the city. We know from research that car sharers are twice as likely to use public transport and/or bikes than use a car, meaning our service is helping tackle issues like car dependency head on.
“We’ve made a lot of changes to our offer to make car sharing even easier and less hassle. We introduced Zipcar Flex in 2017, which now operates across most of inner London. Last year we introduced 325 shared electric vehicles as part of our Vision 2025 to deliver an all-electric fleet to London.
“Demand has been overwhelming, with 10,000 members embracing shared zero emissions driving and clocking up nearly half a million miles.”
