Pentagon bus station was the main bus interchange in Chatham,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Berkshi ...

. It was an integral part of the

Pentagon Shopping Centre The Pentagon Shopping Centre (known locally as 'The Pentagon') is a shopping centre in Chatham in Kent. The centre's name derives from the fact that its main courtyard is five-sided. The shopping centre is located next to the Waterfront bus ...

. 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 roof A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage ...

s (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 succul ...

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 in Kent, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. The council was created on 1 April 1998 and replaced Rochester-upon-Medw ...

had to purchase the lease for the site back off

Arriva Southern Counties Arriva Southern CountiesCompanies House extract company no 20314 ...

, 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 Maidstone & District Motor ServicesCompanies House extract company ...

, 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.

References

* * * * *{{cite book, title=Municipal Journal, Public Works Engineer Contractor's Guide, Volume 74, date=1966 , location=the University of Michigan, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UcshAQAAMAAJ&q=CHATHAM%27S+Brook+Pentagon, accessdate=2 February 2016 Former bus stations Bus stations in England Transport in Medway

See also

References