A TTC bus operator has been suspended pending an investigation after a YouTube video surfaced showing the driver taking a seven-minute bathroom break and buying a coffee at a donut shop.
The grainy video was taken on January 29 by a rider who said he was left waiting on a bus in the early morning hours while the driver reportedly went for a coffee break.
The seven-minute video shows the driver getting off the bus and entering a doughnut shop, where he uses the restroom and buys a drink.
The bus was left idling, the door open and the riders shivering.
The rider who took the video said he only posted it after politely asking the driver not to take his accustomed break when the bus was already 15 minutes behind schedule.
According to rider, the operator told him, "this is the 21st century, kid, not the '60s -- I can do whatever I want."
Meanwhile, Michael Bennett, another TTC rider, caught his TTC bus driver's almost-five-minute break in August 2009 and recently posted it on YouTube.
"I'm a cook, I don't get to take breaks, period, so I don't really care about some of their grievances. Just to work eight hours without a break and you're sitting down driving, I understand that it's frustrating but I'm not exactly sympathetic when you have a large pension to look forward to and a salary that starts at over double mine," said Bennett.
According to Bennett, this stop happened every week on the 5:01 a.m. bus, which allowed him opportunity to take the video.