Pentagon bus station was the main bus interchange in Chatham,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England that are in the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, top level category for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of england, ...

. It was an integral part of the

Pentagon Shopping Centre The Pentagon Shopping Centre (locally known as "The Pentagon") is a shopping centre located in Chatham, Kent, Chatham, Kent. The centre's name is derived from the five-sided shape of its main courtyard, known as "Pentagon Court," a name that h ...

. Before its closure in 2011, 80% of local services started, terminated or passed through the centre. As part of the redevelopment plans for central Chatham, the Pentagon bus station was replaced in October 2011 by the Chatham Waterfront bus station on Globe Lane, adjacent to Military Rd. Space previously used by the bus station will be used to expand the Pentagon Shopping Centre. The new bus shelters have been designed to have living roofs (mainly

sedum ''Sedum'' is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, members of which are commonly known as stonecrops. The genus has been described as containing up to 600 species, subsequently reduced to 400–500. They are leaf succule ...

s). The Pentagon bus station was arranged as a two-lane, one-way, ring road around the outside of the Pentagon Shopping Centre at the upper level. The station had 18 bays, all on the inside of the road around the irregular 5 sided building. Bus access came from street level (The Brook) via one street level ramp and could exit via the same or a second ramp as appropriate. In order to move the station from the Pentagon centre,

Medway Council Medway Council is the local authority of Medway, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council; it is ...

had to purchase the lease for the site back off

Arriva Southern Counties Arriva Southern Counties Limited, trading as Arriva Southern Counties, is a bus operator in Kent, Essex, Hertfordshire, and Surrey in England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus, which is part of the Arriva group owned by Deutsche Bahn. The ...

, which was due to hold the lease until 2018. Arriva held the right to use the site as it had taken over Maidstone & District Motor Services, the previous incumbent. Access to the station by other operators has been a cause of historical controversy. The issue was placed within the scope of a 1993

Competition Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...

inquiry into ''The supply of bus services in Mid and West Kent''. As a result of the inquiry, M&D were required to undertake to provide equal access at reasonable rates and conditions. In late 2013, Medway Council planned to turn the disused station into a car park for its employees but as of 2015 all entrances have been fenced off. In 2022, As part of the redevelopment of Mountbatten House and the surrounding area, the street level (The Brook) entrance and exit ramps to the bus station were removed.

References

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External links

{{Commons category-inline, Chatham Pentagon Bus Station Former bus stations Bus stations in England Transport in Medway

See also

References

External links