Brebes Exit

Brebes Exit or East Brebes Exit also known as Brexit, is one of the most famous road junctions in Indonesia.

It is infamous for deaths and multi-thousand vehicle traffic jams that occurred after opening the junction prior to the 2016 mudik or homecoming period, at the end of the month of Ramadan and at the beginning of the following month of Syawal, as most of the population of Jakarta left the city to return to their home village for the Muslim festival of Lebaran.

Brexit is located in Central Java on the 57.5 km Pejagan - Pemalang toll road, a continuation of the 35 km Kanci - Pejagan toll road, itself a continuation of the 26 km Paliaman - Kanci toll road, in turn continuing from the 116 km Cikopo - Paliaman toll road, which continues from the 73 km Jakarta - Cikampek toll road. Construction of the Pejagan - Pemalang toll road began in 2014, and prior to 2016 mudik the first of two sections were opened, Pejagan to West Brebes, and West Brebes to East Brebes.

There are in fact two Brebes exits, Brebes Timur (East Brebes) toll booth at KM 268 (from Jakarta), and Brebes Barat (West Brebes) toll booth at KM 263. However, as Brebes Timur was the end of the Trans-Javanese toll road, it created a massive tailback as vehicles exited the highway for onward travel.

During Lebaran 2016, the tailback at Brebes reached 16 km.[1] Thirteen people died on a single day.

The deaths and delays at Brexit were primarily caused by payment delays as users pay the tolls, which in 2015 totaled Rp146 500 for the journey from Jakarta to Brexit.[2]

As a result of numerous vehicles running out of fuel at Brexit contributing further to delays and congestion, enterprising vendors sold fuel for upwards, of Rp50 000/liter, more than six times of its official price. As a result, at 2017 mudik season, Pertamina, the state petroleum company, announced that it would set up mobile kiosks, motorbikes with fuel canisters and other facilities to provide fuel to stranded motorists.[3]

By the end of 2017, the Indonesian government plans to eliminate cash tolls in favor of contact-less charge cards, which will greatly reduce the time taken for a vehicle to pass through toll booths.[4]