Prasarana's station naming rights programme gains traction among corporates

KUALA LUMPUR: Several conglomerates from the utilities, retail, travel and telecommunication sectors have expressed interest to sign major deals for corporate makeover at LRT and monorail stations around the city as part of the naming rights exercise by Prasarana Malaysia Bhd.
Prasarana president Datuk Azmi Abdul Aziz said the 'Station Naming Rights Programme' launched since last year to boost the non-fare revenue, has gathered traction with continuous rebranding and upgrading infrastructure by corporate entities around the capital city.
"So far we have signed three deals namely with AirAsia, Suez Capital and Bank Rakyat to rename Bukit Bintang, Universiti and Bangsar stations respectively. This will result in better services and facilities for public along our rail lines with our partners performing their branding exercise and corporate social responsibility," said Aziz, after the official ceremony in renaming Bank Rakyat-Bangsar station here this evening.
He said apart from launching the naming rights programme, Prasarana is actively sourcing income from advertising, parking facilities, retail lots and property development which will contribute up to 30% of our non-fare revenue in the next 14-month.
The daily ridership for rail and bus services under Prasarana is expected to reach 1 million by end of the year.
The station naming rights programme is the first of its kind in South East Asia and provides opportunities to transform a rail station to reflect a corporate entity or branding presence.
Bank Rakyat chairman Jeneral Tan Sri Datuk Sri Abdul Aziz Zainal said with such partnerships, the bank is also contributing to the improvement of public transport services.
Located within one kilometre from the Bank Rakyat twin towers, Aziz said that the renaming undertaking of the station represents the bank strategic move to strengthen the Bank Rakyat brand.
He confirmed that the 5-year deal for the station naming rights cost more than RM10 million.
"We believe our bank customers would gain significantly by using the rail services via Bank Rakyat Credit Card-i. Maybe, we can offer 2% discount or rebate for our cardholders every time they use public transport services under Prasarana. This would in turn increase the rail ridership and provides value to our customers," said Abdul Aziz.
Together with the official launch of the Bank Rakyat-Bangsar station yesterday, the bank also launched its five-month "Realizing Dreams" campaign to its customers to win attractive prizes including luxury cars, bikes, holiday and umrah packages.