Getting to Medway

Travel and parking for Medway in Flames

The Battle of Medway festival is expected to attract thousands of visitors from the UK and from abroad. For this reason we recommend that you make travel arrangements using our public transport services on offer.

We have also put in place plans to help reduce traffic and build up for residents, these include:

Planned road closures:

Dock Head Road will be closed to general traffic from 1pm
there will be access for bus services and residents only
permits will be issued to Dock Road residents to give them access
Dock Road will be closed from 9.45pm for a short time to allow for crowds to leave the site once the main event ends
the waterfront will be cordoned off.

Parking restrictions:

There will be no on-street parking allowed in the following areas from 8am to 11.59pm:

St Mary’s Island: Temporary parking restrictions will be in place on Island Way East and West from the junction to Samphire Way and Restharrow Way
Brompton area: Permit holders only

We have arranged for travel services and parking allowances to help you get to the events without adding to traffic, these include:

Free shuttle bus service from Chatham Waterfront bus station:

from 1pm from Chatham bus station. Pick up from Stand C16 in Waterfront Way (by Argos).
the last bus will leave the station at 9.30pm
the final bus back to Chatham Waterfront Bus Station will leave the event at midnight. Pick-up point is by Dockside Outlet Centre Bus Stops in Dockhead Road. Buses will run every 3-5 minutes.
buses will run frequently and the journey to and from the event will be around 15 minutes to the event, dependent on traffic

Normal Arriva services to Chatham Maritime

On Saturday 17 June all normal Arriva bus services will be serving the Chatham Maritime area including 100, 116, 151 (evening), and 190/191
These Arriva services are not free and are subject to their normal fares
During the evening pick-up and drop-off by Arriva services will be at the Ship & Trades bus stop in Maritime Way

Free park and ride service:

from 1pm from Great Lines Heritage Park, Gillingham
the entrance will be from Marlborough Road and major routes across Medway will be sign posted directing crowds to follow the galleon signs to the park and ride site
buses will run frequently
the last bus will leave the Great Lines at 9.30pm
the final bus leaving the event at 11.45pm.

Free parking:

from 4pm in the universities’ car parks off of the Dock Road/Maritime Way roundabout, Chatham. This is a five minute walk away from the main the event
anyone parking here will need to exit by 11.30pm.

Dockside outlet centre parking

open as usual during the Medway in Flames event
vehicles leaving at around 9.50pm may be delayed for a short time to allow for crowds to move off of the site.

Blue Badge parking

Blue Badge holder parking will be within the Dockside Outlet Centre car park and Great Lines Heritage park.

You can get to the Battle of Medway event locations by:

Rail:

Medway has five mainline rail stations – Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham and Rainham which all have frequent services from London. You can also get the high-speed train from St. Pancras which takes just 35 minutes to reach Medway. You can plan your journey on the National Rail Enquiries website.

Rail travel from Europe to Medway is faster and easier by Eurostar. Ebbsfleet International Station is only 20 minutes from Medway.

Bus:

You can plan your bus and coach journeys through our providers: Arriva, ASD coaches, Nu-Venture and Chalkwell. Find details of bus routes throughout Medway and timetables. Regular National Express coaches run from London Victoria to the area.

Shuttle:

The shuttle timetable for 9 June to 11 June and 16 June to 18 June 2017:

Rochester VIC coach bays	Upnor Castle Bus Stop	Dockyard Main Car Park
10:30	10:45	11:00
11:30	11:45	12:00
12:30	12:45	13:00
13:30	13:45	14:00
14:30	14:45	15:00
15:30	15:45	16:00
16:30	16:45	17:00
17:30	17:45	18:00 *

*last bus returns to Rochester only if passengers are on-board.

Shuttle fares and tickets will be:

£3 for adults
£2 for children and seniors for an all day hop on/off ticket (English National Concessionary Passes are not accepted on this service but may qualify for concession fare)
valid for the day of travel and can only be purchased on the bus from the driver.

The shuttle busses:

are wheelchair friendly with low access ramp for easy access
allow well behaved dogs on-board but they must be kept on a lead (please note dogs are allowed to the Medway in Flames event however are not encouraged to attend the evening finale due to fireworks).
don't have commentary on-board.

Air:

Medway is less than an hour’s drive from Gatwick, London City and Stansted airports. Heathrow and Luton are a 90 minute drive. There are excellent road and rail links to all airports.

Road:

There is easy access from London and the Kent coast on the M2/A2 and M20 motorways, linking with the M25. There are direct links from the A2/M2 to Rochester/ Chatham/ Gillingham via the A289 Medway Tunnel. If you're travelling by car, find out about car parks in Medway.

Travel updates:

For the latest travel and traffic news, visit BBC Travel - Kent, Traffic England updates or follow @medway_council and @MedwayHighways on Twitter.