I hired on with a regional after I had 1600 total time and an ATP. Accrued through flight instructing and single pilot 135 cargo. I resisted all of the short cuts at the time i.e. ‘pay for training’. Not so much the flight instructing, but the single pilot 135 cargo days stay with me today; Invaluable. And it wasn’t impossible or onerous to get the ATP. Not a big deal from an effort standpoint, and hopefully stays as law today. Short circuiting this process is unnecessary and doesn’t add to a safer product in right seat, nor help our profession.
I would be in favor of low/no time FOs if the branding of the regional affiliates was made crystal clear to the flying public, e.g. livery paint jobs are clearly that of the regional and all advertisements are that of the actual airline doing the flying. So the flying public knows they’re getting a vast disparity in crew experience