The council has made a late change to its submission on the university’s Vision 2040 strategic plan.
A desire for a bike-friendly campus should be a strategic imperative, the council suggests.
"Any outstanding campus environment should be bike-friendly and the university currently isn’t," Cr Steve Walker said.
Cycling was common around universities such as Oxford and Cambridge and some people were perplexed by the stance at Otago, he said.
A cycling ban at Otago was brought in more than 30 years ago.
In 2013, cycle safety advocate and university researcher Hank Weiss told the Otago Daily Times the ban arose from an incident when a lecturer was seriously injured after colliding with a cyclist.
Prof Weiss urged the university at that time to reconsider the ban and allow more shared spaces for cyclists, pedestrians, wheelchair users and skateboarders.
Cr Walker said yesterday there was plenty of room within the central part of the Dunedin campus for a separated, safe path.
This could connect with work the council was doing beyond the campus, he said.
University of Otago chief operating officer Stephen Willis said the campus was a pedestrian destination and the priority was safety.
"Our ‘walk your wheels’ campaign has been successful and strikes a safe balance for everyone using our campus."
The university actively encouraged bicycle use by staff and students to get to and from campus, he said.
"For example, we have been installing facilities for bikes and e-bikes that will be opened once the current landscaping work is complete."
The university announced last year an e-bike storage centre with charging points and a repair station would be set up in Dunedin.
It was due to open before the 2021 academic year.
However, there have been problems with cycling safety in the city.
In 2012, university lecturer Li Hong He was killed when he was run over by a stock truck outside Dunedin Hospital.
Cr Lee Vandervis lamented what he described as the university’s intransigence in the past.
"When the one-way street system cycleway was being proposed early on, there were alternative proposals suggesting that cycle traffic from the Northeast Valley would much more naturally be funnelled through the gardens, through the university and down Leith St, so that you wouldn’t have to mix cyclists with heavy traffic," he said.
"The university was the absolute stumbling block to this plan and they were completely unwilling to accept any cycleway running through the university.
"This intransigence, I believe, just stems from their inability to accept the possible risk of a cyclist hitting a pedestrian student.
"Basically, they just didn’t want the responsibility and their way around it was to force them out on to the one-way street.
"This has been really unfortunate for Dunedin."
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Good on the University for standing up to the DCC on this issue.
I think Cr Walker will find that cyclists at "campuses such as Oxford and Cambridge" are far more considerate in the main than they are in Dunedin. Perhaps he should take a relaxing walk with family/friends along one of our new shared pathways and enjoy having a cyclist moving a good clip yell "COMING THROUGH!" in his ear.
I'll bet the 'some people' referred to are cyclists.
Maybe it's time the DCC looked at the kinds of speeds cyclists are reaching on these paths - and the introduction of cycle bells? Maybe then there might be cause for the University to rethink its policy. Till then ... on ya bike, DCC.
Also worth adding that Oxford & Cambridge have very different campus' than Otago and they don't allow cycling in the colleges from what I remember.
Good on the university. Ensuring pedestrian safety is far more important than bowing to entitled cyclists demands. The DCC could learn from this, they don't care about pedestrian safety.
"When the one-way street system cycleway was being proposed early on, there were alternative proposals suggesting that cycle traffic from the Northeast Valley would much more naturally be funnelled through the gardens, through the university and down Leith St, so that you wouldn’t have to mix cyclists with heavy traffic,"
I didn’t know that !!!
So all Dunedinites and passing heavy traffic have to contend with a congested one-way system because the entitled elite at OU don’t want to put their thinking caps on nor be inconvenienced by cyclists!!!
No surprises there !!!
Their attitude speaks volumes!!!
No, their attitude speaks of consideration for pedestrians. Vast numbers of staff and students walk around the campus, often hurrying between lectures. Cyclists are often blind to anyone but themselves and accidents happen. Maybe Eyes wide open doesn't mind being hit by a cyclist - most of us pedestrians do. It has nothing to do with the university being 'elite', just showing more forethought than the DCC.
Your telling everyone that the OU concern is so great for it's students and staff that it can't even come up with a plan to provide a cycle thoroughfare from Leith St, along the Leith Walkway (where the cars are parked) behind Allen Hall (where more cars are parked) to Union St East, then the short stretch to the next car park off Albany St. Those whose destination is the Polytechnic or Teaches College could turn down Union St which would also provide access to Te Pa Tauira and your new hall of residence once completed.
Montgomery Ave and the open space on the opposite bank of the Clocktower building could also be utilised to provide access to the other side of the Leith, once there, walk.
As for those that look to Oxford or Cambridge for examples, I don't think anybody that is forced to contend with OUR one-way system cares one smidgen what they do.
Your rebuffs have all the hallmarks of virtue signalling, claiming one position while being willfully blind to the resulting consequences of that action on everyone but yourselves.
Maybe the problem is car parks and not pedestrians or more precisely, those that utilise those parks.
Am I correct David ???
The foresight the dcc had in the 1960's is being undone by the current council. Blaming the university for not allowing cyclists is a way for them not to take responsibility of the current one way system mess they have now. I
Totally agree (surprisingly) with the university on this one — the DCC has been completely captured by the cycling lobby. Hemmed in on all sides by heavily-trafficked streets, allowing cyclists to roar through campus would just make the whole campus a no-go area for pedestrians.
Requiring cyclists to walk through campus just like everyone else is a perfectly cycle-friendly policy.
Good on the DCC. Is it not worth asking the question ‘can cyclists be safely through the campus?’, rather than simply assuming they can’t? How about a cycle way that sweeps down off Montgomery Ave, along beside the Leith at just above water level, running under the Clyde St bridge, then joining the path near the back of the Commerce building (other side of river). This would be relatively easy to build, iconic and only out of action during flood for a day or so every couple of years!