Abstract: A method of determining occupancy of a vehicle along a route is determined by processing data generated by two different smartphones reported to be travelling in the same vehicle. An app executing within each smartphone. Information that has been transmitted from the two smartphones includes a unique identification of the mobile computing device and a unique identification of a person associated with the mobile computing device. Sensor data is also received, which corresponds to a local ambient environment inside the vehicle of the mobile computing device generating the data. The sensor data does not include location data or data entered by a user. The received data is used to determine if both mobile computing devices were actually present during the portions of the route, by comparing the data from each device.