I feel like I should have more advice on this, since I worked for four years in a rather bad neighborhood and often found myself waiting at dark bus stops for significant amounts of time. The only thing I can really suggest is that you make a point of looking like you’re not worth bothering with, though—by which I mean mostly clothes-based and body-language-based signaling that you aren’t wealthy and aren’t trying to hide anything (e.g. cash). (Note that I’m not saying not to carry cash—that kind of advice never made much sense to me—just don’t let your body language change when you do.)
The frequency of instances where one is approached by panhandlers requesting money may be a useful measure of how much one is attracting the kind of attention that would lead one to be mugged.
I feel like I should have more advice on this, since I worked for four years in a rather bad neighborhood and often found myself waiting at dark bus stops for significant amounts of time. The only thing I can really suggest is that you make a point of looking like you’re not worth bothering with, though—by which I mean mostly clothes-based and body-language-based signaling that you aren’t wealthy and aren’t trying to hide anything (e.g. cash). (Note that I’m not saying not to carry cash—that kind of advice never made much sense to me—just don’t let your body language change when you do.)
The frequency of instances where one is approached by panhandlers requesting money may be a useful measure of how much one is attracting the kind of attention that would lead one to be mugged.