It is located across Marshall Avenue from Gillespie Field, a county airport, however there is no public access to the airport and the surrounding area is sparse and largely unwalkable.

[6] Orange Line service was further truncated to El Cajon on September 2, 2012, as part of a system redesign due to low ridership between the two stations, leaving only the Green Line serving this station.

[7] Gillespie Field station 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.

[8] 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.”[9] To further reduce operational issues on the single track between Gillespie Field and Santee, the Copper Line began service on September 29, 2024, and the Green Line was also truncated back to El Cajon.