The TTC is defending one of its bus drivers on Monday following a video posted online in which the driver refuses to let a woman exit the rear door of the bus even though she repeatedly tells him she feels ill.

The woman grows increasingly agitated and at one point puts a plastic bag in front of her mouth and warns that she may throw up.

Other passengers on the crowded bus chastise the driver, telling him there's no traffic and pleading exceptional circumstances. Someone suggests calling the police.

At one point the driver says, "It's got nothing to do with me being a stubborn bugger. It has to do with safety."

When someone asks for the bus number the operator immediately provides it.

Once the bus crosses the intersection the woman pushes at the rear doors but the driver tells riders to exit out the front door where there's a curb.

As she finally sweeps by him the woman appears to tell the operator he's a piece of work. He tells her he hopes she feels better.

The incident took place Saturday afternoon on a northbound Yonge St. shuttle bus being used by the TTC to ferry passengers at street level while the subway was closed for track work. It happened at the intersection of Maitland St., south of Wellesley.

The operator was quite right not to open the rear door there, said TTC spokesman Brad Ross, who praised the driver's calm under criticism.

"From our perspective he did his job," he said.

The bus is in traffic. Those rear doors would be straddling the intersection, he said.

“It's not for the passengers to decide what is safe and isn't," said Ross.

"They're called operators and not drivers for reasons. They must make decisions for all the passengers on the bus. Sometimes they're difficult decisions to make," he said, adding, "We have bus stops for a reason."