From February 16, ticket barriers will enter into operation at Florence’s Santa Maria Novella train station.
The gates will be effective from 6am, overseen by station staff and the underpasses between platforms, which had been closed due to security reasons, will also be accessible again.
Only a small proportion (12 per cent) of people accessing the station from piazzale Montelungo use it to catch a train, while the majority cut across it on a daily basis from the Fortezza da Basso to the city centre. For this reason, a new route will be introduced from gate E, at the end of passerella Gae Aulenti, which allows those without tickets to access a short cut that will take them to via Valfonda.
This change will also affect shops overlooking platform 16, which will have to decide whether to have their entrances inside or outside the gate.
