The Ottawa transit strike is causing additional hardship for charities, their clients and other vulnerable people already bruised by the economic slowdown.

The Salvation Army relies on its Christmas Kettle campaign to fund programs to help 5,000 Ottawa families by providing food, clothing and the means to heat their homes.

But 50 to 60 per cent of the volunteers who collect the donations rely on transit to get to their stations in public places such as shopping malls, said Michael Maidment, local public relations director for the charity.

On top of that, would-be donors can't get to the malls because of the strike.

"All these things are really kind of combining right now for the perfect storm," Maidment said.

"We're really concerned about these people who are very vulnerable … that may not have our support if we don't raise those funds."

Salvation Army volunteer Hanna Schoots normally takes the bus. On Friday morning, she managed to get a ride to her shift at Lincoln Fields Mall.

"Now I am stuck and I don't know how I'm going to come home," she said, adding that it is impossible to walk from her home in the Centrepointe area in this kind of cold, snowy weather.

But she said she had made a commitment to show up.

"I'm not rich myself, so I understand where the need is, especially for the Christmas."

Schoots is asking the bus drivers to come back to work.

"I think they should change their heart and they should stop striking because they are punishing people."

The transit strike is also making it hard for Ottawa's hungry to get the food they need.

Carolyn Hunter, manager of the Ottawa Food Bank, said many of the 43,000 people who rely on the food bank come during the two weeks before Christmas to pick up holiday hampers that help them get through the season.

"We're really concerned about how that's going to take place if people can't get to their agencies to get those items for the holiday season."

Workers should vote: Ottawa mayor

Meanwhile, Mayor Larry O'Brien said many transit workers are calling to say they like the city's proposed offer to them, and he challenged the union to put the offer to a vote.

"We're getting a lot of calls from drivers, who are saying, 'We didn't know what we were or were not voting on. We like what we're seeing,'" O'Brien said Friday.

He added that he's convinced a majority of union members would vote in favour of the offer if they had a chance to do so, ending the strike that was in its third day.

"I can't go to the members directly, but I can certainly call upon Andre," he said, referring to Andre Cornellier, head of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents the 2,300 striking transit drivers, dispatchers and maintenance workers.

The union has said the dispute is mainly over a new scheduling system that the city has proposed.

Picket lines were up at the municipal government buildings on Constellation Drive and at nearby Baseline station Friday, but city hall downtown was spared.

Strike leaves businesses with feast or famine

Since it began on Wednesday, the strike has caused traffic chaos and battered some Ottawa businesses, while boosting others.

"It can only be described as devastating, even at this early stage, since 47 per cent of our customers use OC Transpo and come to our building every day," said Cindy VanBuskirk, general manager of the Rideau Centre mall Thursday.

The mall is usually a major transit hub, and has no free parking.

Christine Pinesi, manager of Dynamite, a clothing retailer in the mall, said she has cut a lot of shifts and sent employees home due to the downturn in traffic coming into the store.

Outside, the traffic during rush hour was thick and largely immobile.

That kept business brisk at many bars and restaurants close to downtown parking lots, as some workers waited over beer and chicken wings for the traffic jams to subside.

Mark Hood said the commute back home to Finch, about 45 kilometres southeast of Ottawa, has been taking him as much as three hours if he leaves on time.

On Thursday, while trying to leave a downtown parking lot, he realized nothing was moving and he was running out of gas.

"I had to abandon my car and just come on over here for a drink," he said, while sitting in a warm nearby pub. "Might as well be here as in the car in the street."

Nathalie Hébert said she tried to get out of downtown on time Thursday, but ended up parking the car in frustration.

"So tonight instead of getting in the car and getting frustrated I just figured I'd wait it out."