Will Bitcoin transactions get too slow?

They say that there is only .1 % of the population using Bitcoin right now..

What happens when the other 99.9% start to use it?

Right now I use a few different methods to exchange bitcoin.

For example:
-Poloniex
-Coinbase
-Bitpay.com
-Jaxx wallet
-and others

But it seems like transactions are taking longer some days.

I've heard that Bitcoin would need to hard fork to change the way transactions are verified, but would the community really allow this?

I'm thinking the more people that would use Bitcoin WILL cause it to slow down, and would that push people away from using Bitcoin?

With competitors coming out like STEEM, Zcash, and even Ethereum, how can Bitcoin be the ONLY cryptocurrency to be considered main stream when there are other great options as well?

Think of how many money transfer services there are already..

I would hope better mining equipment, and even the halving will help balance everything out.. but I have high hopes for Bitcoin and hey even if it took longer to transfer I still think it will be valuable, and considered the future of money!