Delays in San Francisco’s Central Subway project mean the rail line almost certainly won’t be ready for the 2019 debut of the Golden State Warriors’ new home in Mission Bay — temporarily leaving the 18,500-seat arena without a vital link to downtown.

When they’re finally running, Central Subway trains will link the Chase Center arena to downtown and BART riders, via their Union Square Station — which will be linked to Powell Street Station. The Warriors and City Hall have repeatedly touted the line as a fast and safe way to move thousands of people through the traffic-clogged South of Market to Mission Bay.

Especially on days when the Giants have a home game at nearby AT&T Park.

The $1.3 billion rail line was scheduled to open early in 2019 — plenty of time to spare before the Chase Center’s debut. But, thanks to delays in the construction of Chinatown Station at Stockton and Washington streets, the completion date for the subway has been pushed to November 2019.

That’s about a month after the NBA season tips off, and it’s three months after the Chase Center’s scheduled August 2019 completion. The team is hoping to take the wraps off the arena with a big-name event, much as the Sacramento Kings did last year when Paul McCartney christened the Golden 1 Center.

Muni spokesman Paul Rose said that if the Central Subway isn’t up and running, the city will be ready with shuttle buses for the 3,700 people who the city’s traffic studies predict will ride the line to and from the arena.

Rose also noted that the T-Third Street line already runs between Mission Bay and Fourth and Howard streets, and that it will have a boarding platform in front of the arena.

It’s not clear what the city will do to handle the parking and traffic mess that could ensue without a working Central Subway. “We are currently working on a specific plan using this information as a foundation,” Rose said.

He also said Muni hasn’t given up on trying to open the subway line in time to serve the arena from the start. “We are doing everything we can to make up for the lost time and try to get closer to the original opening date,” Rose said.

Rachel Hyden, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group San Francisco Transit Riders, called the subway delay “infuriating.”

“They made promises to the Warriors, and they made promises to the riders,” Hyden said. “They need to get it done on time.”

Cheryl Brinkman, chair of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, said the good news is that the subway construction “slippage” has been stopped at 10 months past the original opening, “so they may be able to catch up.”

“But we are planning for both contingencies,” she said.

The Warriors, meanwhile, are trying to take all this with a smile.

“We look forward to working with SFMTA and all the other transit agencies that will serve Chase Center to ensure that we make public transit a logical and convenient option for folks coming to our venue,” said team spokesman P.J. Johnston.

“Chase Center is exceedingly well served by mass transit, which is one of the big reasons we chose this world-class location,” he said.

Commish dish: In all, 153 candidates have applied to join Oakland’s new seven-member Police Commission overseeing officer misconduct investigations — including some very familiar names on both sides of the issue.

Those looking to serve on what is likely to be a high-profile panel include:

•Downtown developer and Jerry Brown buddy “Shotgun” Phil Tagami, who tells us that “after a three-year break from public service, I want to help where I can.”

During the 2011 Occupy riots, the onetime port commissioner made national news for guarding his Rotunda building with a shotgun. More recently, he’s been in the headlines for suing Mayor Libby Schaaf and the city over Oakland’s ban on coal going through the $250 million shipping complex he is building near the port.

•Cat Brooks, founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project. Brooks, whose group is “dedicated to ending state-sanctioned murder,” was among four people who shut down a City Council meeting last month when they chained themselves to the dais to protest the police budget.

•Carroll Fife, a community organizer and paralegal who works with Dan Siegel, the civil rights lawyer and former mayoral candidate who has repeatedly sued the city over alleged police misconduct.

•Gay Plair Cobb, chief executive of the Oakland Private Industry Council, who has clashed with city officials over the group’s $1 million-a-year contract to provide job training and placement services. Cobb is also the wife of Oakland Post newspaper owner Paul Cobb.

Other applicants include former Oakland school board President David Kakishiba; Justin Rausa, a local staffer to Democratic Assemblyman Rob Bonta of Alameda; and Regina Jackson, president of the East Oakland Youth Development Center.

The selection panel consists of a representative from every City Council district and an appointee of the mayor — plus at-large member John Jones III, a social justice advocate who counsels at-risk kids and who spent eight years in state prison.

The city actively recruited people with convictions to apply to serve on the commission, but because the selection panel is not asking for criminal background checks, we don’t know how many applied.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross