vampirequeen I think you and your husband are doing a great job and I agree with you that the old people should have some say in what trips are taken. I did wonder if your idea of dropping some people off at one place and then dropping others off somewhere else might complicate things a bit.
I feel that going to a shopping centre or a garden centre is perhaps OK occasionally but not on a regular basis. I don't know why these sorts of trips always seem to include some sort of shopping centre. When I took mum on a coach/hotel break, it included 2 trips out. One of the stops was at a shopping "outlet" which was of absolutely no interest to either of us. Another was at a a fairly uninteresting town where the coach dropped the passengers (mostly elderly) off on a steep hill so that most of them just went into the nearest coffee shop for an hour or so. Yet when we got to Lyme Regis - somewhere where we would all have enjoyed spending more time - we only had 2 hours.
I know volunteers shouldn't expect a "return" for what they do but I don't think it's unreasonable that the drivers get a free meal, as long as the lunches for paying customers are fairly good value and enjoyable.
As absent and petallus said, although some of the trips the other drivers do don't sound ideal, they are probably better than nothing. As long as you and your husband are there to provide the occasional interesting and imaginative trip, I'm sure it will be much appreciated and give people something different to look forward to.
To think that London, or anywhere else for that matter, does not belong to any one demographic
Should women have equal pay and opportunities?