GCI Phaeton (Bus)

The Gilfred Coach Industries Phaeton is a mid-sized transit bus manufactured by Gilfred Coach Industries. To improve forward sightlines for drivers, the chassis design of the Phaeton combines elements of medium truck based buses and conventional transit buses (as well as those from smaller buses). Gilfred Coach Industries introduced the Phaeton in 1997 with the intent that it would be a competing product to Orion Bus Industries' Orion II, but in the end, the line was ultimately marketed as a cost effective alternative to their Jupiter Series.

History
Together with its sibling model, the Caelus, the Gilfred Phaeton was developed during the late 1980s. After reading about the Orion II in an industry publication with his colleagues, Montague Wilson led a team that laid the foundation for both the designs of the Caelus and the Phaeton. The designs aimed to maximize driver visibility, so the entry door was moved to make room for a large window to view sightlines in the loading zone between the entry door and windshield (a feature indirectly inherited from the Ward Patriot and almost all small cutaway van buses in general, particularly small school buses); this was a smaller quarter window that was put forward of the driver's window. The window however, did not fully extend down the height of the entry door and only reached from the windshield to the roofline. The Caelus was unveiled on June 13, 1997 as the larger sister model to the Caelus. The first large orders were placed in 1999 by Dallas Area Rapid Transit and NJ Transit respectively for testing and evaluation.

Sharing the chassis of the Patron, the first-generation Phaeton adopted much of its bodywork from the concurrently produced Caelus. As with both the Patron and Pluto I, Gilfred provided the Phaeton its own dashboard and control panel, with the Phaeton receiving a steering column and instruments derived from those used for the Patron. The engine of the Phaeton sat next to the driver, much like the front engine variants of the later Pluto II.

For 2002, Gilfred Coach Industries decided to experiment with unit body construction on the Phaeton for a second generation model, first rolling out the new design in 2004. Being loosely derived from the Patron's chassis, Gilfred also developed a new purpose-built semi-forward control integrated chassis specifically for the second generation Phaeton. To showcase the model change, Gilfred fitted the Phaeton with a new streamlined hood and dual headlamps.

For the 2004 Phaeton units delivered to Richard Regional Charters, Gilfred changed out the standard two-piece sliding front entry door to a one-piece swing out front door. This specific version also had a low-floor area from the middle to the front of the bus, necessitating the usage of a front wheel drive layout, which is unconventional for a bus. However, the bus' engine was installed transversely and coupled with a transaxle rather than the front wheel drive longitudinal engine setup common in typical low floor Phaeton variants. Gilfred named this version the DS35LPH TD for Diesel propulsion, Shuttle, 35 foot length, Low Floor configuration, PHaeton, Transverse Drive. Gilfred eventually used the development of the DS35LPH TD as an opportunity to further develop the second generation model for 2012 production. The transverse layout was eventually offered as an option to the Caelus first in 2007 and then to the Phaeton by 2011.

In early 2007, Gilfred considered opting to change the design of the Caelus to make it stand out from the Orion II and avoid potential lawsuits over the two similar designs. Although the Phaeton was essentially the larger sibling model of the Caelus and wasn't technically designed as a competitor to the then-discontinued Orion II, the Phaeton would undergo similar changes nonetheless.

Later that year, the second generation Phaeton indeed underwent an extensive facelift, but also a slight mechanical redesign of its forward body; the redesign involved applying automobile-derived styling to the front clip. This also meant that rather than the hood be the entire front clip assembly hinged to the frame like on a medium-duty truck, the hood was instead reduced to a single lid on top of the engine in the vein of a conventional automobile.

The launch client for the Phaeton's second generation facelift was Brochanter Corporation (doing business as Brochanter Charter Services; formerly "Espinosa Bus Lines" prior to 2005), a private bus agency founded in 1971 that is well known for operating transit bus services in the states of Nevada, California, Washington, Oregon, Florida, and Texas. Ten buses were delivered to the company's Santa Clara depot in California and were the first units of an order placed in 2007. In the same order, Brochanter also bought 26 examples of the Bacchus Mini, but for exclusive use in express shuttle bus services and parking lot transportation services.

Since 2017, the Phaeton is still in production and is yet to see further changes. It has also since been widely used by the Trans-Central private agency of Northern California for mini BRT and minibus services.

Design
Gilfred Coach Industries designed the Phaeton as the mid-size sister model of the Caelus midibus. Although the Caelus was meant to compete with Orion Bus Industries' Orion II series at the time of its introduction, both it and the Phaeton were engineered to have a front axle ahead of the front door. As of 2004, the Phaeton is an integral design (as opposed to a separate chassis and body) built in a modular design, with semi-unibody construction. To improve forward visibility, the bus was also a semi-forward design with the driver sitting next to the engine and radiator which were repositioned behind the front axle. The entry door was also moved behind the front axle and equipped with an optional flip-out wheelchair ramp. This created a large space between the driver's sliding window and windshield in which a "loading-zone" window was fitted onto. Also, aside from the left side auxiliary window ahead of the driver, the right side bodywork ahead of the door was in addition given a safety window as well, like those on small school buses, but rather than extending the full length of the door, both windows instead reached from the roofline to the windshield. Like the Caelus, the Phaeton could be ordered with a optional sliding two-piece front door as an alternative to the standard one-piece swing out front door. The Phaeton could also be specified with an integrated wheelchair ramp built into both front door options in addition to the ability to kneel in both the front and rear. Another optional sliding two-piece door before the rear wheels was also provided.

As of the second generation, the Phaeton's electrical system can be specified as an "EZ Control" system. The so-called "EZ Control" utilizes multiplexed wiring, just like the standard electrical system in the Caelus. It also allows for switches that can easily be removed and/or rearranged to fit the driver's preferences without the need to rewire the whole electrical system. The trade-off is that the driver can sometimes lose the switches, so to compensate, the dashboard of the bus was designed specifically with a recess within the glove box to store any switches taken off the control panel. Prior to this though, the Phaeton was only offered solely with an electrical system made up of individually wired circuits.

Adhesive bonding was also involved to complete a number of body joints in a process similar to that of the Caelus and later generation Patron as well as self piercing rivets in parts of the bus where fasteners are required. However adhesive bonding was used in the Phaeton to a much lesser extent since most of the body joints were created by welds.

Early production models had a smaller grill with quad headlamps, however later models received dual (instead of quad) headlamps and a wider grill. Starting in 2004, the bus entered its second generation, which was identified by a rounder and smoother front clip as well as different grill. This was in turn followed by a facelift in 2007, which added automobile inspired styling onto the front clip and just like on the Caelus, the facelift also eliminated the medium duty truck-style hood in favor of a more conventional automobile style lid. A destination sign could be specified as an integrated component within the windshield, and a small rear sign could be added onto the top left hand corner of the bus. The Phaeton was also produced with varying tailpipe placement; some buses had stacked exhaust systems like on conventional transit buses, while others were side or even bottom exiting. Although the majority of four-wheel drive hybrid examples had at least a particular set of electric motors and the engine both drive all wheels simultaneously, certain four-wheel drive hybrid low floor models only had the rear wheels driven electrically as opposed to all four.