14 Facts About Gillig Corporation

Gillig Corporation had been located in Hayward, California, for more than 80 years before moving to Livermore in 2017.

Gillig Corporation was founded in San Francisco, by the Gillig brothers.

Oldest surviving bus manufacturer in North America, Gillig Corporation was founded in 1890 as Jacob Gillig Corporation, trained in carriage building and upholstering, opened his own carriage shop in San Francisco.

In 1896, his son Leo Gillig Corporation entered the business as a shop foreman, becoming a full partner in the business in 1900.

In 1957, a major acquisition was made as Gillig Corporation purchased the Pacific bus division of Washington-based truck manufacturer Kenworth.

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In 1967, Gillig Corporation would introduce the largest school bus ever produced: the tandem-axle DT16.

In 1992, Gillig Corporation began producing an LNG fueled version of the Phantom as a lower emissions option, but discontinued it in 1998.

In 1996, Gillig Corporation introduced a diesel-electric hybrid powered Phantom, which they produced until 2006.

In September 2011, Gillig Corporation introduced an alternative fuel BRT model with CNG propulsion—their first CNG-powered bus produced and first production natural gas buses since 1998.

Between 2001 and 2002, Gillig Corporation supplied 100 Phantom body-chassis shells to King County Metro Transit.

Gillig Corporation shipped these Phantom buses in fairly complete form, including interior fittings such as seats—lacking only propulsion equipment including trolleypoles.

Meanwhile, transit agency removed the propulsion system from its old fleet of 1979-built AM General trolley coaches which the Gillig Corporation vehicles were purchased to replace, and shipped them to Alstom for refurbishment.

Between 2014 and 2020, Kiepe partnered with Gillig Corporation to produce new dual-mode trolleybuses for the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority.

Gillig Corporation shipped four BRTPlus body-chassis shells to Kiepe to build prototype coaches, two of which function as battery electric buses while away from electrical wires and two of which use a diesel generator.