Chatbot Bertje - digital citizen services for the City of Roeselare
The City of Roeselare wanted an additional digital service channel available around the clock. We built Bertje, a chatbot that answers citizen questions across all municipal service domains — from waste collection to permits to event information. Bertje uses a database of roughly 1,000 questions and synonyms, trained through Natural Language Processing, and routes complaints directly to the city's internal handling system. The chatbot has been live on roeselare.be since 1 October 2019.
A city investing in digital-first services
Roeselare had made citizen services a strategic priority since 2013 and adopted an omnichannel approach: encouraging citizens to start online, then call if needed, and visit in person as a last resort. In 2017, the city worked with iMinds (imec) on a Smart City assessment, which identified a chatbot as a viable pilot project. From 2017 to 2020, Roeselare participated in Like, an Interreg North Sea Region programme focused on digital innovation in public services. A chatbot fitted directly into that programme's scope.
What the city wanted
The goals were concrete: a digital service channel available 24/7, a reduction in phone calls to the central city number (1788), a new contact channel alongside phone, email, and social media, and — eventually — a replacement for the website’s search function.
Building and training Bertje
We built Bertje in partnership with Cronos, with Microsoft providing Azure infrastructure support. The project was co-financed through the Interreg NSR programme (50%) and involved investment from all partners. The total cost for the city was approximately €22,000.
How Bertje works
Bertje uses a knowledge base of roughly 1,000 questions and synonym variations. The chatbot is continuously trained through natural language processing to recognise questions and provide accurate answers. Staff can control the confidence threshold: only answers scoring above a set level are shown to citizens. The system logs every interaction, and staff train the chatbot by reviewing and scoring its responses.
Routing and workflows
When a citizen wants to report an issue, Bertje routes them directly to the city’s complaint handling system. For specific question types, custom conversation flows guide the citizen through the relevant process.
What Bertje delivers
Bertje has been live on roeselare.be since 1 October 2019. The chatbot covers the city’s full range of municipal services rather than focusing on a single topic. Citizens get answers around the clock. The chatbot also gives the city better insight into what citizens actually ask, which helps train the contact centre staff. And because Bertje pulls information from the website, it forces the city’s teams to keep their web content up to date — an unintended but valuable side effect.
Staff investment
The project required approximately 0.8 FTE over one year from city staff for content development and chatbot training. That investment also resulted in a thorough review and update of the city’s website content.
