Gillespie Field station

Gillespie Field is a Green Line station of the San Diego Trolley in the San Diego suburb of Santee, California. It is located across Marshall Avenue from Gillespie Field, a county airport which also contains an annex of the San Diego Air & Space Museum.

Gillespie Field
San Diego Trolley station
The station in March 2010
Location	1990 North Cuyamaca Avenue, Santee, California United States
Coordinates	32.8271°N 116.9821°W / 32.8271; -116.9821
Owned by	San Diego Metropolitan Transit System
Operated by	San Diego Trolley
Line(s)	La Mesa Branch[1]
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Connections	Metropolitan Transit System: 115[2]
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Parking	180 spaces
Disabled access
Other information
Station code	75022, 75023[3]
History
Opened	July 26, 1995 (1995-07-26)[4]
Rebuilt	2005
Services
Preceding station   San Diego Trolley   Following station Arnele Avenue toward 12th & Imperial Transit Center Green Line Santee Town Center Terminus
Location

It was ranked worst rail station in California in a 2015 UC Berkeley School of Law study, due to its sparse, unwalkable location and lack of ridership.[5] Study co-author Elkind was quoted in the press, “I almost wondered if there was really a station out there or if we got the GPS wrong. It looked like cow pastures.”[6]

History

Gillespie opened as part of the fourth and final segment of the East Line (now Orange Line) on July 26, 1995, which extended the physical line from El Cajon Transit Center to Santee Town Center. With the opening of the new Green Line in July 2005,[7] this service was replaced, and Orange Line trolleys began to terminate at this station. (This was due to the path between Gillespie Field and Santee Town Center being single tracked, and having two lines running on that route would cause operational issues.[8])

Orange Line service was further truncated to El Cajon Transit Center on September 2, 2012 as part of a system redesign due to low ridership between the two stations,[9] so only the Green Line now serves this station.

Station layout

There are two tracks, each served by a side platform. Just past the station, Santee Town Center-bound service merges onto a single track.

Side platform, doors will open on the right
Westbound	←  Green Line toward 12th & Imperial Transit Center (Arnele Avenue)
Eastbound	→  Green Line toward Santee Town Center (Terminus) →
Side platform, doors will open on the right

See also

• List of San Diego Trolley stations

References

1. "San Diego & Arizona Eastern (SD&AE) Railway" (PDF). San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. April 2013. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
2. "San Diego Regional Transit Map" (PDF). San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. September 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
3. "Schedules & Real Time". San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
4. "History". San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
5. N. Elkind, Ethan; Chan, Michelle; Faber, Tuong-Vi. "Grading California's Rail Transit Station Areas" (PDF). UC Berkeley School of Law/Next10. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
6. Srikrishnan, Maya. "The Case of the Worst-Ranked Transit Station in California". Voice of San Diego. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
7. "MTS Historical Timeline". San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
8. "East extension means changes in routes, timetables". U-T San Diego. July 3, 2005. Retrieved September 15, 2012.
9. "September 2, 2012 Service Changes. Major Bus and Trolley Service Changes". San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. Archived from the original on 2015-04-30.