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Urban rail transit (URT) is under accelerated construction worldwide, which exerts important effects on the ridership of existing stations. However, few studies evaluated the determinants of station ridership considering the development of URT system. By employing the spatial difference-in-differences (SDID) model, this paper evaluates the impacts of a new line on the ridership of existing stations and analyzes its spatial heterogeneity. Combined with a geographically weighted regression (GWR) model, an interaction analysis is performed to understand the spatial variations of the impacts of the new line and surrounding land use on the ridership of existing stations. The results show that the operation of a new line can effectively share the ridership of existing stations and has spatial spillover effects. For different lines and different areas, the impacts can be heterogeneous. Additionally, the coordinated development of the new line and residential land accelerates the ridership growth of existing stations. Conversely, business development around the new line can attenuate the ridership of existing stations. The findings of this paper can help to make proactive planning of URT and provide policy implications for the integrated development of URT and surrounding land use. • Evaluates the impacts of a new urban rail transit line on the ridership of existing stations. • Explores the interaction effects of the new line and surrounding land use on the station ridership. • The operation of the new line can share the ridership of existing stations and has spatial spillover effects. • The interaction effects vary across the space. • Provides policy implications for the proactive planning of urban rail transit systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]