OTTAWA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Greyhound Canada announced on Thursday that it will suspend all of its remaining bus routes service in Eastern Canada starting May 13 because of the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused ticket sales for company's routes in the eastern part of the country to plummet by 95 percent. The company halted its service in Western Canada in 2018.

In the announcement, Greyhound Canada said that as of midnight next Tuesday, all remaining routes will no longer be in service. "As we continue to navigate this situation, we will keep our customers and employees who are affected by this temporary shutdown top of mind."

"We regret the difficulty that this will cause them, but this decision came as a last resort option to address the uncontrollable consequences and devastating impacts of this pandemic," it added.

Some 400 employees will be temporarily laid off as a result of the service suspension.

The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), which represents 34,000 transit professionals in nine Canadian provinces, blasted the Canadian government for failure to act definitively to save the service.

ATU Canada president John Di Nino said the government has given the industry the cold shoulder during the pandemic. "These workers see federal inaction as a betrayal and a denial of their value as part of the workforce."