CITY INSIDER

In 2013, Muni started a program to speed travel on what it then called the 5L-Fulton Limited line. It eliminated and removed some stops, installed new bus boarding areas and made traffic and parking changes. Muni officials credit it with reducing travel times by 9 percent, increasing ridership 17 percent and reducing collisions involving buses by nearly 40 percent.

The board approved a package of changes designed to further speed the bus — including the traffic circles, new traffic signals at Broderick and Scott streets, some bus stop relocations and 23 parking space removals.

Sean Kennedy, manager of the Muni Forward program, said the improvements should help reduce travel times, already reduced 9 percent, by another 11 percent. A big part of that will be due to increasing the speed of buses through a six-block stretch that now has stop signs at every cross street.

But some residents worry that the traffic circles will bring vehicular chaos — including speeding cars and confused drivers — to their quiet residential neighborhoods.

“I understand that they don’t want buses to stop at every street, but this is going to speed up traffic,” said Ellison Folk, who lives on McAllister Street.

The changes will take effect in the next couple of months.

The MTA board, to no one’s surprise, also endorsed Mayor Ed Lee’s proposed Transportation Sustainability Program, also known as the new transit impact fee that developers will be asked to pay to help pay for Muni. The program, which would apply fees for the first time to largescale residential development — often called luxury condos — needs a approvals, including by the Board of Supervisors, before it takes effect.

The MTA board voted to recommend the supervisors approve the plan. It would raise an estimated $1.2 billion for transit over 30 years.