The time is now to approve the long-awaited bus rapid transit project on Geary Boulevard in San Francisco. This critical transportation corridor cannot wait for much needed upgrades that will create safer, faster and more reliable transit for our neighborhoods.

On Jan. 4, the Geary Bus Rapid Transit project’s Citizens Advisory Committee will meet to recommend a design. On Jan. 5, the Transportation Authority Board, comprised of the Board of Supervisors, will consider certifying the project’s environmental report and vote on a preferred design alternative.

The Geary BRT project combines bus-only lanes, upgraded bus stations, new traffic signals, and several other street and infrastructure improvements. The project will reduce bus delays, saving transit riders as much 20 minutes per round trip.

Bus rapid transit is a globally proven solution to improve transit now and allows for the addition of rail in the future. Over the past eight years, I’ve ridden and observed construction of other bus-rapid transit lines from Mexico City to Guangzhou, China, and East San Jose to East Oakland to learn from their experiences.

Our recommended plan to upgrade Muni’s 38-Geary bus line to bus rapid transit will not only vastly improve transit, but also help in our effort to make Geary — one of the city’s designated “high injury corridors” — safer for everyone. A person crossing Geary on foot is eight times more likely to be hit by a car than the citywide average. The city needs to address these problems.

The 38-Geary carries more than 52,000 transit riders every day, making it one of the busiest bus corridors west of the Mississippi. Even with recent improvements, bus trips on Geary today involve extremely crowded buses, unpredictable wait times and challenging intersections.

This tailor-fitted plan for Geary is also the result of a decade-long community process that has enriched the project’s design, balancing the needs of those who live, work, shop and play along this important corridor. The project includes intersection upgrades to make walking safer, street repaving, added landscaping and lighting, and modernized utilities.

Community input has resulted in a plan that extends the bus-only lanes to the Outer Richmond’s Washington High School, maintains the Japantown/Fillmore District Webster Street Pedestrian Bridge, prioritizes stops near senior and other activity centers, and preserves more than 95 percent of parking within one to two blocks of Geary. It will also address the much-needed repairs on Geary’s road surface.

The Geary BRT project will meet the many different community needs along the corridor, make Geary safer for all, and ensure that tens of thousands of transit riders will have fast and reliable public transportation.

Join me in showing your support for this transformational project. Our neighbors depend on public transportation and safer streets to get to school, medical appointments, shops and work. We simply cannot delay improvements to safety and transit on Geary any longer.

Eric Mar is the San Francisco Supervisor representing District One. Tell your supervisor that you support Geary BRT and want to see safe streets and reliable transit move forward at www.sfbos.org. Learn more about the project at www.gearybrt.org.