Mayor Bloomberg yesterday took a swipe at those leading the chorus of criticism of his school bus route changes, reinforcing the notion that he firmly believes the executive branch of government knows best how to handle the issue.

When asked to respond to calls from the city’s public advocate and from council members to fire the consulting firm the city hired to help design a new school bus plan, Mr. Bloomberg lashed out.

“You’re quoting people who have no experience in doing anything, so I don’t quite know how to answer it,” he said. “Nobody is going to be able to satisfy everybody, and if those people who haven’t done anything in terms of management think that they know what to do, they should apply for jobs and we’ll be happy to do it.”

The city’s public advocate, Betsy Gotbaum, who has been publicly criticizing the administration, responded by saying the Bloomberg administration should “stop blaming the victims and put an end to the school bus fiasco.”

“More than a week into this ongoing embarrassment for the greatest city in the world, it’s obvious that having parents call 3-1-1 isn’t the answer,” Ms. Gotbaum said in a statement. “Scrap the plan. Enough is enough. Go back to the drawing board and pilot a new plan in the fall, when the weather is more accommodating.”

Ms. Gotbaum — who served as parks commissioner under Mayor Dinkins and is said to have an eye on running for mayor — also criticized the contract the consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal was awarded, a nearly $16 million no-bid deal. She said it was “absurd” for Mr. Bloomberg to contend, as he did yesterday, that the firm is being paid.

The chairman of the City Council’s Education Committee, Robert Jackson, another of the mayor’s critics on this issue, said: “It doesn’t take a degree in management to recognize that any reform that results in kids being left stranded and unable to get to and from school safely is not being implemented appropriately.”

Mr. Jackson is planning to hold a hearing on the bus issue February 13.

While Mr. Bloomberg has come under fire since his administration cut 116 school bus routes late last month, he has defended the move, saying it will save the city’s Department of Education money and allow more resources to be directed to the classrooms.

His swipe yesterday comes about a month after he told the Financial Times that legislators aren’t well qualified to run the executive branch of government.

“I would argue that those who work their way up the legislative branch have absolutely no skills to do the job,” he said.

When asked to explain what he meant, Mr. Bloomberg told reporters that the job of a legislator and executive require “totally different skills.”

“I don’t think an awful lot of executives would make good legislators. I don’t think an awful lot of legislators would make good executives,” he said.

That comment came as several New York legislators are preparing to run for mayor or president. The speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, for example, is said to be planning a run for Mr. Bloomberg ‘s job, and Senator Clinton is actively campaigning for the White House.