A few of us answered your initial question back on the first page. If you're a captain at NJA, leaving there to come to JBU would be one hell of a gamble. There's a little bit of growth and no attrition, who knows when you'd upgrade, but you can count on it taking a while.
I went NJA to JBU and love it, but I was furloughed at the time. Wouldn't have left if I was still employed, and being that I was furloughed, I was obviously an FO at NJA, no way I would have left as a captain. I don't think leaving NJA as a captain is crazy in general, but leaving for a smaller carrier with no union who is ripe to be bought by a larger carrier at any time leaves a whole lot of question marks that I'd never invite into my life if I didn't have to. If FedEx, UPS, Delta or SWA were calling, I'd leave there in a heartbeat.
I don't commute, so I don't know about the sched's for commuters.
Upgrade will definitely be faster on the 190, but the timeframe for that is impossible to predict. We're growing slowly, but not losing many to attrition or retirement. Without attrition, the company basically needs to double in size for you to upgrade. How long will that take at 6-8% growth per year (in a good year)?
Insurance is crap compared to NJA. It's crap compared to a lot of insurance, but it's particularly crappy compared to NJA. It's way more expensive (obviously, compared to free) and is not nearly as comprehensive or generous with coverages.
I'm in year 1, I'll make mid 50s this year, guess I'll do around the 70s next year? Not sure, I'm not there yet.
Don't mistake my realism for pessimism. I like JBU and am very happy to be here. There are lots of issues here that need to be addressed, but I've yet to work somewhere that didn't have issues to be addressed. I realize that JBU is far from perfect, but I don't let it interfere with me enjoying the job and I hope that we can get together soon and start addressing some of these issues to make it more perfect.
I'm just trying to give you my honest opinion that I think it would be crazy to leave the left seat at NJA to come here. For someone in the right seat or furloughed from NJA, I think this would be a great move, but from the left? No way. The daily work and control over your schedule is much better here at JBU than at NJA, but everything else is on par between the two and there are a few things at NJA that are much better than JBU (living in base, free insurance, crew food, etc) and I think they come together to make it a total wash between the two companies, so I'd stay wherever I was making that captain paycheck.
Good luck.