The Corporation possessed limited powers to operate its own motorbuses under the Birmingham Corporation Act, 1903, but these powers restricted the running of such vehicles to periods during the construction, alteration or repair of tramways, or in prolongation of any tramway route, the extension of which might be contemplated. By November 1913 two motor omnibus routes were running from Selly Oak (tram terminus), one to Rednal and the other, overlapping the first route between Selly Oak and Longbridge but then striking west to Rubery. Ten Daimler 40 h.p. buses with 34-seat bodies, numbered 1-10, were purchased to operate the services and were thus the first buses to carry the Corporation blue and cream livery.