It's Colgan-- that's the problem. Perhaps after the merger, we'll see some E-Jets or the like on routes like EWR-PIT, EWR-DCA, EWR-RDU, etc. In general I'm a loyal CO customer, but I avoid Colgan-operated flights, and I refuse to fly them on routes longer than ~250 miles. If we don't vote with our $$$, CO won't get the message.

You could catch DL from JFK, as you mentioned, but you could also use B6 from JFK. You could also use US from LGA or PHL.

If the CO/Colgan flights are the only ones that really work for you, and your flight is cancelled or delayed, you could have CO: (1) route you EWR-CLE-PIT, or (2) route you EWR-PHL and then PHL-PIT on US.