JAKARTA: Bus commuter Septiani Rahayu missed her stop recently not because she was distracted by her phone, but because the name of the stop had changed from Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) to Senayan Bank DKI.  

"I accidentally got off at the wrong stop because the name was different. I was supposed to get off at GBK, but the name was no longer GBK," said the 27-year-old, who was taking a bus operated by PT Transportasi Jakarta or TransJakarta, the capital’s bus rapid transit system.  

Name changes of bus stops and rail stations have been a part of life in Indonesia’s bustling capital since 2018, when transport operators began selling naming rights for extra revenue.

That year, rail operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) changed the name of the Sudirman Baru station to BNI City station after making a deal with state-owned Bank Negara Indonesia.

Naming rights have become a hot topic again after rock band D'Masiv purchased naming rights for the Petukangan TransJakarta bus stop on Mar 3, becoming the first well-known Indonesian band to have its name attached to a public transit stop.

Previously, the rights had gone to companies that placed the highest bids at naming auctions. It is unclear if individuals can buy naming rights.

TransJakarta naming rights start from 1 billion rupiah (US$61,160) for a one-year period, reported news outlet Kompas. The more strategic a stop's location, the higher the price.

With the Petukangan D'Masiv bus stop, a total of six TransJakarta stops have undergone name changes over the years. They are the Bundaran HI Astra, Senayan Bank DKI, Widya Chandra Telkomsel, Cawang Sentral 1 Polypaint, and Swadarma ParagonCorp stops.

This year, the bus operator aims to sell naming rights for 11 stops.  

Rail operator MRT Jakarta, meanwhile, has sold naming rights for nine stations. 

One of its first deals was with ride-hailing firm Grab in 2019, and MRT Jakarta’s finance and corporate management director Tuhiyat revealed at the time that Grab had paid 33 billion rupiah for a five-year agreement for Lebak Bulus Grab station, Kompas reported. 

When Grab chose not to renew the contract last year, the Lebak Bulus station reverted to its original name.

MRT Jakarta’s most expensive naming rights deal so far is for Bundaran HI MRT Station, which was secured by Bank DKI in 2024, Tuhiyat said without revealing the exact price. 

Light-rail operator LRT Jakarta has sold naming rights worth up to 12 billion rupiah, with contracts lasting up to five years.

So far, it has sold naming rights for two stations: Dukuh Atas BNI Station and Pancoran Bank BJB Station.  

LRT Jakarta, MRT Jakarta, and TransJakarta are operated by the Jakarta provincial government.  

The selling of naming rights makes perfect commercial sense for transport operators and can also be a marketing triumph, helping a company’s brand awareness go the distance, transport and branding experts say.

The revenue can, in turn, help improve bus and rail services and potentially reduce the amount of government subsidies needed.

But there are drawbacks to treating place names as commodities, and an expert on geographical names cautioned the practice could erode the identity of an area and even erase its heritage and history.

MAJOR SOURCE OF NON-FARE REVENUE

The sale of naming rights for public transport stations is established in other countries including Malaysia and South Korea, experts noted.

“There are more benefits than drawbacks to selling naming rights because it’s a major source of non-fare revenue,” Ki Darmaningtyas, a researcher at the non-governmental organisation Institute for Transportation Studies, told CNA.  

Other sources of non-fare revenue include the sale of ad space, commercial leasing and property rental.

Naming rights can be among the biggest contributors of non-fare income. In January, MRT Jakarta’s business development director Farchad Mahfud told Antara news agency that naming rights contribute “a significant 30 to 40 per cent” of non-fare revenue.  

According to TransJakarta’s 2024 Performance Report released in February, it saw a 3.5-fold increase in non-fare revenue from two years ago, reaching 218.4 billion rupiah. A major contributor was the "monetisation of intellectual property through collaborative products", it said.

Monetising naming rights is ultimately good for the financial sustainability of public transit companies, said Darmaningtyas.

“Non-fare revenue can be reinvested, for example, to improve employee welfare,” he said. 

Danang Parikesit, a researcher at the Center for Transportation and Logistics Studies at Gadjah Mada University, too believes there are no real downsides to selling naming rights.  

“Beyond promoting financial sustainability, in the long run, it can help lower fares and fund the expansion of public transportation networks and services,” Danang told CNA.  

With substantial non-fare revenue, the government can reduce subsidies given to keep public transit fares affordable, noted Deddy Herlambang from the Indonesian Transportation Society. 

According to data from Indonesia’s Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), the Jakarta provincial government allocated 3.9 trillion rupiah in subsidies for TransJakarta in 2024.  

These subsidies were used to cover 10,000 rupiah per trip in 2024, allowing commuters to pay only 3,500 rupiah per trip, said TransJakarta President Director Welfizon Yuza in January.

Such subsidies will continue to decrease as transit companies become more financially stable. According to Detik news outlet, in 2022, TransJakarta’s ticket subsidy stood at 16,800 rupiah per trip before dropping to 11,400 rupiah in 2023.

“In this case, the biggest beneficiary is the government,” Deddy told CNA.  

MASSIVE EXPOSURE FOR BRANDS

Buyers of naming rights get to have their brands’ names prominently displayed on transit stops and other infrastructure including signage, wayfinding systems, route maps and announcements.  

According to business and marketing expert Yuswohady, naming rights offer an advantage over other forms of advertising.

“With billboards, the exposure is temporary — it could last a month or even just a week, and brands have to share space with others,” said Yuswohady, the managing partner of marketing research firm Inventure.

Naming rights agreements typically last for years, he noted. 

“Beyond that, when a brand becomes part of a destination’s name, it gets mentioned frequently by people and even appears on Google Maps, significantly expanding its reach.”

The exposure to potential customers is also massive.  

In 2024, TransJakarta recorded 371.4 million passengers in total, averaging about one million riders per day. MRT Jakarta served over 40.8 million users, and LRT Jakarta saw 21 million passengers last year.  

Some commuters agreed naming rights leave a lasting impression.  

Jakarta commuter Tasya said station names have made certain brands stick in her mind.

“For example, with Cipete Raya Tuku Station, now whenever I want to buy coffee, I automatically think of Tuku,” she said, referring to the Indonesian coffee chain.

Cosmetics manufacturer Paragon Technology and Innovation — the company behind the brands Wardah and Kahf — acknowledges the benefits of having its name on a TransJakarta stop.  

“While we haven’t directly measured the impact on sales, our monitoring of digital conversations shows an increase in brand awareness for Paragon,” Dwi Suci Candraningsih, its corporate communication senior executive, told CNA.  

Dwi declined to disclose the cost of Paragon’s naming rights for the Swadarma TransJakarta stop, but confirmed that the agreement is for five years. 

Another advantage of buying public transit naming rights, said Yuswohady, is that "entering the public domain makes a brand feel like it’s owned by everyone”.

“And a brand that holds a position in the public domain is highly valuable," said Yuswohady, who has authored nine books on branding and marketing.  

Brands should, however, be strategic when selecting locations for naming rights. The choice should align with their identity and history rather than being random, he said.

D'Masiv, for example, secured naming rights to the Petukangan TransJakarta stop for its proximity to its headquarters.

Coffee chain Tuku’s choice of Cipete Raya station is because that’s where it first started its business.  

BNI and Paragon picked transit stops near their main offices.

“There needs to be a story or narrative behind (the choice) to strengthen the brand. If the placement is random, the impact won’t be as strong,” Yuswohady explained.

CULTURAL FOOTPRINTS ERASED?

But there may be an intangible cost to the sale of naming rights, said an expert on toponymy, or the study of place names.

Changes in place names for commercial purposes have the potential to "erase the integrity of a country's geographical nomenclature, as well as its historical and cultural footprints”, said Aji Putra Perdana from Indonesia's Geospatial Information Agency.

The threat was, in fact, highlighted in a resolution by the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) in 2012, he said.

"UNGEGN advises each country to pay special attention to commercialisation that could turn geographical names into commodities," said Aji, a PhD candidate in toponymy at the University of Twente in the Netherlands.  

"This practice is recommended to be avoided as it distorts the original meaning and purpose of local naming."  

The name of a place is not merely a geographical marker but holds historical, cultural, and societal identity values, he said. 

"When place names continuously change to suit business interests, there is a risk that the original meaning of these places will be lost, replaced by short-lived commercial narratives," said Aji.

While there is an Indonesian government regulation that advises against the use of institutions’ or organisations’ names for natural features as well as man-made structures, Aji observed that it is often ignored due to commercial reasons or other agreements.

An example is the naming of the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) Elevated Road —after the Emirati leader — by then-president Joko Widodo in 2021.  

Indonesia’s regulation states that a person's name should only be used for a place five years after his or her death. But the government said at the time that the naming was a reciprocal gesture, as a road in the United Arab Emirates had been named after Widodo.

"Because the regulation is not strict, it was allowed," Aji said, adding that the naming principles are merely recommendations.  

"To this day, there is no specific legal framework (in Indonesia) that regulates the limits of naming rights for public facilities, especially those with heritage status,” he said, hoping for stricter rules on naming rights, particularly for places with historical value.

The periodic renaming of bus stops and stations, even if only by adding a suffix, could disrupt public memory, Aji said.

This is because "geographical names have an emotional attachment to the community," making the changes confusing for the public, he said.

TransJakarta passengers who have missed their stops as a result of name changes agreed.

Septiani, the commuter who missed her GBK stop, said: "It’s confusing, especially when the sponsorship contract expires and is replaced by a new brand. You’re used to a stop being called A, and suddenly it’s B.”