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Despite being so flexible and, if you keep your affairs in order, almost always there for you, the MetroCard is in twilight time. In three or four years, the MTA plans to dump its once-trendy, now-dated machinery, saving tens of millions of dollars. Riders will then be forced into the arms of a new, higher-tech suitor, but not everyone wants to dance.

"My MetroCard, I love it. Sometimes I lose them," said one straphanger.

"I know people come and go. Your MetroCard becomes like your best friend, you can always depend on it," said another.

Co-dependent or not, a rider's next chance for romance is being tested on the Lexington Avenue line and on PATH. A system called "Tap and Go" uses one's own credit or debit card. Still, it's a far cry from the deft and elegant swipe needed to get anywhere with a MetroCard, which has been around since 1994 when it started to replace the brassy token.

However, the MetroCard hasn’t been all fun and games over the years. Transit rider Enid Shor tells NY1 her monthly card has been erased of its value on more than one occasion.

"So I bought from the machine, went through, went to work, came home, went back down to the subway -- $81 gone," Shor said.

Of the 380,000 refund claims last year, only three were about demagnetized cards. Transit officials say a magnetic clasp on a wallet or purse could be to blame. But Shor, an executive assistant, says when it comes to this relationship, it’s not me, it's you, Mr. MTA.

"I've always had it in a protector. It's not the card, it's not me. It's the machines," Shor said.

As part of the upgrade, the MetroCard machines themselves will also disappear. And not everyone will shed tears over the end of this affair.

"No, I'm not attached to my MetroCard. Only to the subway," said one straphanger.

Counting your blessings -- along with your remaining rides -- may be a lesson lost on the young.