I sat one mos reserve in EWR and then held a line. I just got to IAH and will sit 3 mos (maybe more) reserves before I will hold a line. I live in Texas so IAH was the move for me but if you live close to EWR, you will have a better QOL earlier for sure. I didn't like the 2 leg commute to EWR but the people and flying was good. If you can do a 1 leg commute on our mainline you will do better with space and jumpseat than flying a commuter.

Hope this helps.